Like Mr Malouf, I believe this defines us. There are few countries in the world where elections occur in a stable and safe way. So few in fact, that we are almost unique – especially when you factor in that every adult is obligated to vote. Our compulsory voting system ensures the elected government is a genuine reflection of the view of the people. Not even the US or the UK can match how our parliament is a true refection of the wishes of “all” its citizens.

Yet in spite of this, we will always have the wingers and those who think that voting is an infringement on their “right to choose to vote” and an inconvenience on their time. If these wingers had to swap places with citizens in Rwanda, (where people risk having limbs hacked off while trying to vote) I’m sure they would quickly appreciate what we have here in Australia.

As for me – I look forward to revisiting the cardboard booths and voting in three years time again. It’s the one thing about our nation that continues to fill me with pride.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

Unfortunately, in using this approach, life can pass you by and leave you wondering what in the world happened to a big chunk of your time. The problem of course is that self advancement doesn’t come in the form of a package, a pill or a person – it is a process initiated by oneself, carried out by oneself and fulfilled by oneself.

In my experience, genuine movement forward often emerges out of tragedy, desperation and finally, an understanding that only the self can help the self. We are ultimately alone in the world as no one can walk in the shoes that we already occupy. Those of us who learn this, usually get ahead, and those who don’t usually fall by the wayside.

Like many others, my greatest error in judgement (as a young man) was waiting for external help that never arrived. Needless to say, I was shocked when no one approached me and offered to address the issues that had buried me in a temporal ditch. Neither friends nor family tried to alleviate the problems that had developed – and why should they? The ditch I was in was my own and all those close to me had their own issues. To be given absolution without being able to systematically deconstruct, identify and address each aspect of a burden, does not lead to growth and personal evolution – it leads to a stunted existence. You have to remove as many obstacles obstructing your path, as is possible, before life can progress again.

In my case, once the core burdens had been removed, the things that did came to fruition, happened because I made them happen. This is a difficult truth to swallow, especially for someone who grew up thinking he could depend on others. I wish I could offer examples of how life might function differently, but I can’t, and unless you lead a particularly charmed existence, you will always have to do things for yourself. Either that, or you’ll have to accept that most things you’d like to accomplish, just won’t happen.

So – as the lads I grew up with used to say – “Get over yourself and get on with it!” You might just find, trying rather than hoping, accomplishes more than you could’ve ever imagined!

Dedication (For my whinging Gen Y brothers and sisters.)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

The label was not only a sign of fondness for the crazy grand son-in-law – who did everything far too slowly, it also summed up how Pop could get to the crux of a personality. He had a knack for finding a word or phrase that perfectly captured what someone was all about. In my case, how I couldn’t handle imposing on anyone. Pop’s long term advice in regards to my hang-up? – “Just relax Vas…, my food is your food…, just leave the money on the table after you’ve eaten!”

God bless you Jack, I’ll miss the banter! Until we meet again, look after yourself and Nan. Save me a piece of her sponge as the rest of us will be there with you soon enough. I look forward to that next pot of tea and our ongoing deliberations on how unnatural it is to rush anything – especially work!

Pop and Nan (Mona) had 7 children, 18 grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren and countless hangers-on like me. Not bad for a family that’s descended from Scottish immigrants who started out life in a tent on the beach at Port Melbourne (Victoria – Australia) in the 1850s.

Eternal be, his memory. Pop was born on April 1st 1919 and entered his repose on June 7th 2010.

My condolences go out to all the Grants in regards to his passing. Pop will be missed by each and everyone of us. He leaves behind countless wonderful memories and set the standard on how to live and what it means to be a gentleman.

Pop’s Eulogy (Text – PDF / 60kb)
Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – June 2010

My highlighted author for the week is: Octavia E Butler – a brilliant American Science Fiction writer who’s given us some amazing predictions about the future and some extraordinary alternative realities. Her death in 2006 was an absolute tragedy for the written arts.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – June 2010

Its form was born into this land and has belonged to this country for over 43 years. If individuals don’t understand that a non Anglo-Celtic name is as Australian as an Anglo-Celtic name, (or an Aboriginal name for that matter) then they’ve missed the whole point of this country.

Why do I still have to explain such a simple thing to supposedly “educated people”! Frankly, if they don’t get it – it’s their problem, not mine!

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

My highlighted author for the week is: Raj Patel – a writer with deep convictions to social and environmental justice. His latest book is – “The Value Of Nothing”

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2010

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

The commentary is called: Good Friday 2010

The highlighted author for the week is: Henry David Thoreau – a poet, environmentalist and activist of the 19th Century.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2010

The saddest part of the discovery was that the person forced my grandmother to sign over the rights to the land just before the matriarch of the family died! One has to wonder, what sort of character badgers a 93 year old woman on her death bed for the family’s inheritance! Instances like this, make me glad that I had very little to do with these people over the years.

The poem is called: Olive Grove

The highlighted author for the week is: Chrissie Hynde – though technically not a full time writer, her genuineness, song lyrics and written material on animal rights qualify her as an inspirational person.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2010

The creative down side to all this, is how much time, energy and resources were needed in order to deal with this idiot. Unfortunately, the ongoing drama took me away from editing and uploading material to the blog and left me feeling quite bitter about the whole situation. On the up side however, we now have a secure boundary to our property and the level of safety is substantially better. We also seem to be moving forward again and “baring any unforeseen circumstances” I should be returning to a weekly upload.

Before I forget though, I’d like to thank the people who have continued to read the back catalog of postings and poetry on this site. Without your support (and traffic), the site would not have maintained its search engine ranking over that amount of time, and ranking (for better or worse) is everything in regards to readership on the web.

I’d especially like to thank my readers in the great city of Moscow. My server logs show that the Moscow readership maintained a great interest in the audio versions of the early poetry I uploaded to the site. Please rest assured that I will be uploading additional audio material as soon as I can – thus increasing the repertoire of what you can listen to over time. Your patronage (and bandwidth usage) also allowed the blog to briefly take the top “Theodorakis” ranking with Google (for one week at least), bumping “Mikis Theodorakis” from his number one spot. Mikis’ wikipeadia entry has since regained the top spot, as it well should, considering his artistic legacy. ;)

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2010

What I do know is that he had a gentle and jolly soul – he never hurt or caused anyone trouble. Such a good person did not deserve to die so suddenly and so tragically. At the age of 41 he had a massive heart attack while at work – away from friends and family. I can only imagine his last moments must have been filled with fear and panic as to what was happening to his body. No one deserves to die so horribly scared – I just hope his suffering didn’t last long and he found peace soon after the attack.

In addition to this tragedy is the tragedy of his family. His father only died a few years ago and both brothers had been sick, experiencing medical complications most of their lives. I’ve often thought, though there is a lot of misery in the world, it is not evenly distributed. There are some who go through life almost charmed and there are others, like these boys (and their parents), who bear an uneven level of suffering compared to the rest of the population.

Emmanuel is survived by his mother and brother George, as well as numerous cousins, aunts and uncles.

“Eternal be, his memory”…
“Emmanuel was, is and will always be a brother in Christ”…

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

This might not be the case for everyone, but was certainly the case for me. 25 years have now passed since I had to walk away from the idea of training and working in physics. At the time I didn’t realise the dream was unraveling and would never be fulfilled. Then again, in 1985 I was an above average “horribly blinkered” adolescent, who couldn’t see that anything else existed in life other than my one and only goal. The notion of not reaching that goal was (for me), far more horrific than death.

To emphasise what effect this had on me – years after I pulled out of my Science degree, I still had PTSD flashbacks during stressful events in my life. These flashbacks were not related to any near death experience but instead involved reliving a Pure Mathematics exam I had failed. For me – life ending, was more about leaving behind my dreams than physically dying (and being revived in hospital).

So how did I get past this blockage in life and let go of the unfulfilled dream? It took a long time but once I was able to find a new vehicle for my scientific interests, it was no longer an issue. i.e. it and I finally found a home in my Sci-Fi writing.

Does this mean that I’ve created real closure for the pain and loss I experienced all those years ago? I can’t say for certain, but what I do know is this – I don’t have the flashbacks anymore and that’s got to be a good sign. Psychologically speaking, no one ever fully recovers from extreme loss (this is a fact) – the passage of time just ensures its less intense. For example, today I have written and uploaded this posting from my old campus while working on my Sci-Fi manuscript at the university’s main library. This should have acted as a trigger factor and produced negative feelings (as occured in the past) but the experience has been nothing but positive. ;)

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

Years ago I had the opportunity to become a priest – it’s a long story, but lets just say I knew people who were prepared to make it happen, as long as I was prepared to turn a blind eye to the nationalistic heresy (phyletism) that’s rife in the Orthodox Church. Going down that path might have guaranteed me a life of security, credibility and a warm fuzzy feeling that I was helping the Faith. At the time though, I had lived by my wits and by the grace of God for so long that I could not discern whether I’d be taking on the role because of the benefits or because of a genuine desire for spiritual service. The benefits on offer, for someone who had been as deprived as I had been, were just a little too tempting and I could not risk following through on such a decision. If I did, there would always be some doubt (in my mind) as to my motivations. And so, my work for “The Big Guy” continued to occur on the fringe, with no financial gain or personal benefit.

Even though passing up the offer was extremely difficult on me and a slap in the face for those who were supporting me, I felt it was the right decision. In making it, I had (as a minimum) not compromised a promise I made to myself, which was, to lay down one’s life in service to Christ – not language, not culture and definitely not country. With this as my bottom line, I’ve subsequently inched forward and worked towards teaching others as much as I can about the Faith. As happens on a regular basis however, my local church yet again made a mockery of everything I’ve fought for since 1983.

This evening, my wife and I tried to attend the Orthodox Christian service of “Matins of the Lamentations” which is about paying one’s respect to Christ in the tomb. This happens before the resurrection service tomorrow night. Instead of Roman soldiers guarding the tomb however, we were presented with children dressed in their great grandparent’s national dress. In addition to this, not a word of English was spoken or chanted during the service – English, by the way, is the only language these children understand. I’m sure I wouldn’t have reacted so badly, if the language being spoken was still understood by more than a handful of the congregation, but the language (in use) is as foreign to these people, as Latin was to the Roman Catholics in the 20th century.

Before going on, I should also point out that one of my own failings is that I haven’t learnt how to stomach the ignorance these people display for the Faith or the way they discriminate against outsiders. Let’s put aside for a moment, that every time someone like me walks into a church we get looked up and down for not dressing in the “right” clothes, or for having long hair and a pony tail – this pretentiousness and discrimination is far too entrenched to change in a hurry. What I can’t put aside however, is that in 2010, they’re still unable to differentiate between their own religion and their ancestors’ nationalism! As far as they are concerned the Faith is just another ritualistic part of their 1950s time-capsuled culture (which was perpetuated in the suburbs of Australia). I wonder what the Fathers and Mothers of the Church would have thought of this situation – Orthodoxy that doesn’t include a relationship with God!

These children, who were dressed up in someone else’s national costume were easily 4th or 5th generation Australians. One has to wonder whether their parents will ever realise that establishing a sense of identity is difficult enough for a child, let alone when it’s not allowed to plant both feet firmly in one country. Rolling nationalism into religion is a particularly desperate attempt to keep alive an ethnicity (across generations), and unfortunately is being done at the expense of the Faith. Orthodox Christianity was never about Hellenistic culture and country it was about the universal worship of God! Anything that got in the way of that worship (being universal) was always modified, especially language that became incomprehensible and foreign nationalism that overruled theology! The Faith is also about accurate history, if you want to depict the soldiers at the tomb, they were Roman, not 19th century Evzones. And if you want to depict Christ – Christ was a Jew not some Hellenistic national! What “line” are we running here – that “God was, is and always will be Hellenic”!

I honestly fear for the future of my Church in this country, and I’m gravely concerned as to why the clergy continue to allow people to convert to this Faith when converts are not welcomed and do not have a place to call home for themselves.

My message to both the Orthodox Church in Australia and its priests is make up your minds – decide whether you want the Faith to be part of this country and if so, make appropriate changes that allow it to be accessible to all Australians (like separate missionary churches) – or – take these congregations, aka the glorious diaspora which seems to pine/long for the homeland, encourage them to sell off all their Australian assets and move to where there is no conflict of interest between nationalism and religion. After more than 60 years of this nonsense, it’s time to make a choice and either put down roots for both the descendants and converts of the Faith or pack it up and leave!

I, on the other hand will continue to live in Australia and continue to operate as an Orthodox Christian, even if I have nowhere to practice my Faith. To this day I do not have a single local church where I can attend all services in the language in which I think and write – and that language is and will always be English. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against running services in multiple languages – but please – start offering appropriate liturgies in the language of the land – after all, what country do we think this is!

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

There, on the far side of the blue, we fall on our knees – dumb founded.
The trees of Gethsemane had sustained
Our blood for 100’s of years,
But like in Palestine, we were betrayed by a kiss
Whose guilt was washed away
As easily as the sandy silt, at the base of those ancient trees.
And so, we are cut free at last.
Our link to Western Crete finally broken,
As even the land now belongs to another.

But the earth does not understand these human transactions,
And awaits the return of our feet.
Longing, for the trampling of soil;
Puzzled, by where the offspring have gone;
And hoping,
For a reunion that will never come!

So how do you tell the dust of your DNA,
That the 1000 year marriage
Of rascals to rocks, chaos to creativity, mania to morals
Is finally over?
I do not know.
I only sense, that like the mythical dragon
Whose once believing children have left to become adults,
The grove is forced to wander for eternity,
As her sadness can never be eased.

Dedication (For my grandmother Maria.)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

Instead, I was brought up to believe that the only important thing in life was getting a degree – everything else would take care of itself. Ironically, the parent who forced this philosophy on me ended up being so threatened that I might become “a better person” than them, that they sabotaged my ability to complete that degree. In the end, not only did I not have the basic skills and resources for living, the one thing that I had been told was the panacea for all life’s needs never came to pass – i.e. I never did get that degree (at least not in the field that I loved – science).

As I had no guidance in what was important in life, I experienced real difficulties in making decisions that helped those things happen. Anything that I did manage to get in place was nothing short of miraculous. Combine this foundation-less start with some serious medical conditions and I entered a state of limbo from age 18 to 33. Its only been through the help of strangers (not family) that I’ve been able to put in place, during the last ten years, what most people (in Western counties) have in place by the time they’re 25.

So today, as I turn 43 and the important things in life are finally part of my day to day experience, I find that I have a vision of a future and enough ability and resources to hopefully make things happen. I also have the love and support of good people and hopefully the ability to still have a family.

Time as always is the great leveler, and I have no idea if I’ll be delegated enough of it to turn thoughts into realities before I suffer a systemic shutdown of my body. I live in hope however, that the metronome forgets about me just long enough, that I might carry out some fancy footwork and leave behind completed legacies not partialities.

More than most however, I know that time doesn’t choose favourites and I don’t expect it to do me any favours. In the end it boils down to just one thing – continuing to express oneself in the world for as long as one can. Everything else is just human philosophy and rhetoric – nothing more.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

Blessed with the genetics of Cretan pirates and dollops of PTSD drawn from far too many near death experiences, I find my attempts to reach for sainthood hobbled by thoughts of pummeling the evil I encounter in humanity. Sure, one might argue, doing away with evil can’t be such a bad thing, but these thoughts often involve the “ripping apart” limb by limb of individuals who carry out these evil acts. Somehow I don’t think this approach follows the ways of a loving God – at least not the examples that Christ left us.

As I struggle with these things on a daily basis, finding some days worse than others, the passions created by both my genetics and my experiences taunt me to hit out at those without a conscience (even though I have never physically hit anyone in my life). Fortunately, these thoughts are countered by one’s training in the Faith which teaches us to turn the other cheek (in a literal sense), and that it is God’s domain to address the wrongs that others have done unto us. Religious morality is also supported psychologically by social inhibitions that hold unsavoury thoughts in check as well as one’s possession of an ethical “free will” that continues in its determination to do no harm to others. As always it’s about one’s checks and balances – things that have allowed us to develop into functional societies, at least up until now.

The only comfort I draw from this personal struggle is that humanity as a whole suffers from this dichotomy of thought and inner conflict as well. The best example of this is how most civilised society’s espouse peace yet almost always maintain well armed defence forces.

I suppose it is part of our religious/spiritual nature to try and follow in the footsteps of our peacemakers – hoping that our enemies will leave us alone. As a biological species however, we continue to reserve the right to use big sticks to hit the bad guys over the head, especially when we fear losing ground to them while adhering to a philosophical pacifist approach.

Unfortunately, there’s an ongoing ethical dilemma to this situation and that is, if we choose to pick up the retribution stick we in turn become the bad guys. So much for sainthood – I therefore continue to be the unworthy and pitifully hopeless servant of God, even as I turn 43!

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

Being drawn into the battle on yet another front, the year has not ended quite as I had hoped. My first anthology, “Growing Up” (1983 – 1990) is still not all online, and energy is temporarily having to be redirected to protect my family and myself.

This physical and metaphysical war is far from over, and I am obligated to continue in my endeavours until the job is done.

So I thank you, the reader for your patience with, and patronage of my material – in spite of the delays. My hope is that 2010 is a more successful year in terms of uploads.

Until then, you have all our best wishes (both my wife’s and mine) for a healthy new decade.

Take care and stay safe,

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – January 2010

The exact date of writing in January 1990 is unknown.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – December 2009

The exact date of writing in January 1990 is unknown.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – December 2009

The overall poem is called Three Parts, even though each section has its own title. In order to highlight each piece, I’m releasing the components as separate posts. The poem includes Three Parts – Responsibilities, Three Parts – House, and Three Parts – Daisy.

This week’s component is therefore: Three Parts – Responsibilities. Its exact date of writing in January of 1990 is unknown. I’ve therefore estimated it as 06 January in order to accurately display its chronological order in relation to the other poems. The poem talks about how a dreamer was forced to “grow up” !

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – November 2009

Dedication (For my feathered friend Bert who continues to mourn Molly, his head preener and companion.)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

When I start up again, I’ll be resuming and completing the upload of my first anthology i.e. – “Growing Up”, which was written between 1983 and 1990.

My next scheduled posting should be a poem that appears here on Friday 27th November 2009 – if not beforehand.

Till then…

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – November 2009

For example, you see it in the woman who stops to help a young girl who’s dog has been run over on a major road. The woman makes a conscious choice to pull over when all other drivers pretend they don’t see anything going on and drive past the youngster’s tragedy.

You see it in the teacher who puts her pupils first, in spite of her back stabbing discriminatory colleagues who stop at nothing to get the cushy teaching jobs – year in, year out. The teacher has a habit of biting her tongue and getting on with the actual teaching, even though her own life has been made miserable by her co-workers.

You see it in the guy who continues to get up every morning even though all his hopes and dreams have been dashed by life’s unpredictability. In spite of his accumulated hardships, he continues to embark on new endeavors each and everyday – hoping that just one of them will bring some purpose to his life. He is the archetypal figure of stubbornness who refuses to give up on life, even though everyone else thinks life has given up on him.

Courage is a precious thing and cannot exist without decency. I have witnessed it first hand through these people and its rare occurrence continues to keep me going when the cowardice of the majority crashes over me like an insurmountable wave.

What people often miss, is that the courageous aren’t rich and have few resources to spare. They tend to become possessed (or is that obsessed) by the urge to manifest decency in the visible world and find it hard not to follow through on that urge. When they do achieve a win for their efforts, something or someone is often saved but the courageous rarely receive any personal gain. Alternately when they lose, the loss is always personal and sometimes substantial. The price the courageous pay can be financial, interpersonal, health based, or a loss of safety and security.

Years ago, I had the misfortune of listening in on a conversation led by an individual who had never lifted a finger in his life to help another human being. He was “slagging off” about a true hero, someone who had tried to save a drowning homeless person but instead drowned himself. The coward’s argument was that the dead hero should never have tried to save the homeless person, for the hero’s life was far more important than the homeless man’s life. If the hero had just minded his own business he would still be alive, and that’s all that mattered!

Such heartless attitudes, highlight how people’s social responses continue to be good or bad – right or wrong. Irrespective of whether you believe people’s responses can be categorized in this way or whether a God oversees such categories, a person can’t escape the repercussions of indifference as it has an uncanny ability to haunt one in the wee hours of the morn. For better or worse our human psyche is founded on such values and even the coward’s conscience will cause them distress until they either seek absolution for their lack of decency and/or die. Either way, a life that lacks decency eventually becomes meaningless.

I for one hope that I continue to grow in regards to decency, and believe that I’ll know when this occurs as my actions will become bolder and more courageous. My wife on the other hand, has nothing more to prove. She is already the most courageous person I know and everyone who encounters her always benefits from her decency – especially the children she teaches. ;)

Dedication (For my wife Helen and her friend Belinda Adams)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

Social behaviour is getting more extreme and concern for one’s fellow human being is reaching an all time low – especially in our locality. In the past, I encountered malicious intent in only a few people around us. Now I find a large number of individuals are using it as an acceptable form of human interaction.

This really upsets me and I’ve often thought that our species doesn’t deserve its place in the biosphere. Even so, I doubt that our presence will be eradicated anytime soon. Its going to take some time for the planet to wipe us out and correct the mess we have made.

That being the case, and because I no longer trust our neighbourhood, we have decided to put up the strongest, highest fence we can afford. Our aim is to create an island sanctuary amongst this suburban insanity. Whether this action is enough to hold back the barbarian assault is anyone’s guess.

Moving elsewhere is unfortunately not an option.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

Often – it takes a while
For us to realise,
That our bodies
Are the carriages,
Of nature’s own time machine.

Witnessing change first hand,
And reliving the past in our minds,
We are all experts
By the time we step off,
And hand over our ticket stubs – though reticent,

To the grinning skull,
Of the sickle bearing station master!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

Being uneducated and unfamiliar with the old adage (euphemism) that “God helps those who help themselves”, she had a tendency to cross her fingers and hope that God would provide her with everything she needed – not a very smart strategy under any circumstance.

Needless to say, the lady’s life went from bad to worse and her inactivity eventually caused her to lose her house.

The author for the week is the renaissance writer known as: Voltaire

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2009

Called – Insight And Wisdom From Parents? - it was written in June 1989.

The author for the week is the poet: William Wordsworth.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2009

If this doesn’t define us,
I don’t know what does!

Dedication (In response to my wife yelling out… “Look at the dandy lions!”)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

The author for the week is the Canadian poet and musician: Leonard Cohen.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2009

The author for the week is the Roman poet and vegetarian: Ovid.
Some of his poems can be read at: http://www.poemhunter.com/ovid/

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2009

As of next week however, I should be back to editing and uploading the “Growing Up” anthology. My ongoing aim is to publicly release all poems in this anthology by the end of the year.

In the mean time, the pieces uploaded in the last month include:
Formal Worship And Nature – a ‘religion and theology’ commentary.
The Havoc They Reeked! – a new poem written in August.
The Apple Multi-Touch Tablet – A Mouse Replacement? – a ‘tech prediction’ about the yet to be released Apple Tablet.
The Exam Syndrome – a ‘general’ commentary on competition.
This Is What We Are! – a ‘religion and theology’ commentary on the state of Orthodox Christianity in Australia (still being worked on).

The author for the week is the great pacifist and vegetarian: Albert Einstein.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2009

What I find interesting, is that I’ve seen other children raised in families with no formal ritual or religion, do a very similar thing. In all instances they try to re-enact stories associated with local beliefs, which they’ve heard about through members of their community. For example, a friend of mine whose people were traditionally Buddhist has raised his kids without any reference to religion; yet, these kids know of the Budda story (through other friends) and try to make up plays about him.

This may of course be about child conformity, but I believe the innate tendency of children to gravitate towards religion is about humanity having a built in need for ritual and spirituality. In its absence, we will always substitute something in its place – just look at how sport is followed and worshiped in secular countries like Australia. The bottom line is we are animals, born on a planet with physical cycles and we have always been tied into these cycles – its hardwired into our genetic make-up. When we progressively removed ourselves from those cycles, that is, by developing sedentary lifestyles, our internal clocks did not suddenly abandon our need for routine or ritual even though we had cut close ties with the environment. In fact, the further we removed ourselves from the cycles of the earth the more dependent we became on ritual in order to “feel ok and normal”. Millions of years of evolution couldn’t be left behind by our genome, just because culturally/socially we had stopped paying attention to the seasons and acknowledging the sun’s rising and the moon’s setting, etc. The simple answer to the good atheist’s question of “Why do we need religion?” is that we need routine and ritual to feel complete and religion is still the best fulfiller of this need.

Built on top of this psychosocial fact is the metaphysics of the situation. Anyone who has ever gone camping and watched the planet come to life in the mornings, or watched pets in captivity when the sun reappears, knows that all sentient creatures turn to the sun and welcome another day of existence with gratitude. So much so, that I swear you can almost hear them thanking existence/their Maker/their Source for their lives. I’ve often thought that the places of worship we build can never match the living cathedral of the planet, where all creatures are allowed to witness the sun breaking over the horizon, are allowed to stand side by side (both friend and foe) and offer up their gratitude in their own way – even if that “survival of the fittest ceasefire” only lasts for a moment of each morning. In this cathedral, this daily event (which inadvertently sanctifies everything that participates) is the right of all life, not just Homo sapiens. The associated tragedy of our settled lifestyles is that many creatures in captivity often can’t see the sun to fulfil our most prehistoric of all biological rituals.

We may therefore have created formal worship (for ourselves) because it completes us in the absence of standing alongside our planet’s brethren as the sun re-appears each morning. In addition to this explanation of formal religion, many religious texts (written by people of insight) have described how non-corporeal beings in the invisible world also hold elaborate liturgies in praise of their Source. e.g. With Christianity, there are many instances in the Bible that describe how the Seraphim and Cherubim have always held formal worship before God. Combine all these physical and metaphysical theories together and it’s not hard to see why we feel most at home when we have something to look up to and thank – whether it be the sun, God or a sporting team.

A thousand years from now, I have no doubt that my nieces’ contemporaries will construct other religious plays that pay homage to existence, God and the meaning of life. Even if no adults are left who believe in anything other than themselves, children will know what to do. I believe our young will continue to hear the call of the sun (or is that the Son?), which is hardwired into our genome, until it is beaten out of them by non-believing adults. It is only the adults who have forgotten to stand beside the Pelicans and be grateful for the fresh air that fills their lungs, the sun that warms their skin and the light that illuminates their eyes. In every era, a few of our children take this instinctive insight into adulthood. Those who do will always be our seers and guides in life.

Addendum For Orthodox Christians: Nature And Christ?

As a species, the more we moved away from the natural world and into the artificial world of societies and cities, the more important formal ritual became. Our internal body clocks which had built in memories for cycles, seem to have happily accepted the replacement of routine (like work) and ritual (like religion) to make up for being taken out of the planet’s normal patterns.

For good Christians, Christ inadvertently had to show up in order to remind us of what we had once known instinctively but had forgotten. Knowing us better than we knew ourselves, he had to re-educate us in regards to His presence, which had existed prior to the creation of the universe, and continued to exist as a conduit to God even though we had forgotten about the conduit and had forgotten about Him. He even had to become one of us and walk among us, for we had become so fixated on our own species, that we were incapable of understanding a connection with the Source other than through our own constructs and through one of our own kind. Living away from nature for so long, we couldn’t see what all the other creatures could still see naturally. Christ’s visit was to primarily restore us to our natural state.

Ironically, some groups of people – especially the nomads, still had a sense of the Source and the connections to the Source through the planet’s natural cycles. Colonial Christian missionaries however, spent hundreds of years prying nomadic peoples away from their lifestyles and unbroken connections with the earth, only to settle them in towns and offer them religion to replace the ritual they lost through settlement. This type of social engineering was not only discriminatory and stupid but also spiritually wasteful! It was analogous to having access to a meal but then throwing the meal into the bin and giving the restaurant’s patrons exactly the same meal (only this time arranged differently on the plate). In addition to this, the restaurateurs (i.e. missionaries) went on to claim that the patrons (i.e. nomadic peoples) never had any food in the first place. Their final strategy was of course to indoctrinate all survivors that this was always the case.

If these people had been left alone, their separation from the Source would never have occurred. Our history is unfortunately riddled with examples of how colonialists “had” to save those that did not need saving, “had” to offer them a connection/communion with God when it was already there and “had” to force them out of Eden as the colonialist’s ancestors had been forced out of Eden thousands of years earlier. How dare someone continue to exist within Eden, when everyone else had inadvertently thrown themselves out in search of bigger and better things than the earth could provide naturally! Ah… the notion of greed – civilisation’s finest friend and first ever catalyst is unfortunately still with us.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

Never again,
Will it be as the ancestors knew.
For it was taken;
And in the shortest amount of time,
Crushed by the other.
Annihilating the balance
That once ruled these waters.

Everything is right;
As far as the mainstreamers
Are concerned.
But all that remains
Is the blue,
Filling up my mind,
And drowning out my heart;
Stretching ahead,
For as far as I can see.

Dedication (For Minjerribah)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

Contrary to what she has come to believe, there is nothing psychic about my predictions of new gadgets. It’s all about reading widely in the tech industry (which I have to do for my web work), and extrapolating product lines. Most companies develop their products on the basis of what they want the customer to “believe” they need. Their PR gurus then go to work on convincing the customer that they “have to have” the item. There are lots of strategies for doing this, especially with today’s hi-tech marketing and advanced industrial design. In this way, tech companies often groom their customers for a new product through incremental technological changes. It’s very rare for businesses to randomly dump a new type of device on the market without preparing the commercial environment for the introduction of the product. In instances where they do dump a new category of device on an unsuspecting public, it almost always fails. Just look at the Apple Newton – a great device, but no one knew what to do with it on a day to day basis. In addition to this, companies inadvertently leave behind a trail of clues that outline the new product’s purpose, especially when they begin modifying related technology to work with the new product.

So far, I’ve successfully predicted that if Steve Jobs ever returned to Apple, Inc. he would simplify it’s product line and reintroduce an all in one Mac. Everyone made fun of me at the time, but this of course did occur when the iMac was introduced in 1998. I also predicted that Apple would create a commercial and legal ecosystem for music downloads and come up with a “useful” MP3 player when I realised they had converted the SoundJam MP program into iTunes 1 (in early 2001). The only thing I didn’t get right was just how intuitive and user friendly the iPod’s interface was going to be.

So what’s my latest prediction? The Apple Multi-touch Tablet of course, but not in the way that all the tech sites are describing. I predict that Apple will attempt a paradigm shift in the way we interact with our personal computers and access data wirelessly. The interesting thing about the shift is that all the components for it are already in place – touch screens, small footprint operating systems, cutback keyboards, wireless networks in homes and offices. So many of the components are in place, that the device should fit into most people’s lives without its introduction being a surprise at all. Even so, it will be a paradigm shift away from what we’ve grown accustomed to i.e. using a mouse as a pointing device.

So this is my prediction, as we move towards our computer desktops actually becoming our physical table’s desktop, we’ll need medium sized multi-touch surfaces to get used to the idea of the computer disappearing all together. I believe that Apple and other computer companies are slowly moving in this direction, but the hardware change they’re pursuing won’t happen overnight. In the meantime, people need to get used to touch screens and what better way to do this than by replacing the mouse (and mouse-pad) with a touch screen device. Let’s call the device an “iPad” in recognition of track-pads already on notebooks. After all, laptop owners have been using track-pads instead of mice for years now. What Apple probably wants us to do, is start using desktop PCs that are made up of a small keyboard, screen and small multi-touch device – no mouse. If this wasn’t the case, why did Steve Jobs finally allow the mouse to become multi-button based? Anyone who’s followed how obsessed he was with single button devices, knows he wouldn’t have let go of the single button mouse, unless he was absolutely sure the mouse was already on its way out! Initially when purchasing such computers online, I expect that you’ll be able to choose between a mouse and a multi-touch tablet (iPad?). Because the tablet will be so expensive on release, only the die-hard Mac-Heads will choose this sort of computer bundle.

I’m guessing that while such a device is connected to a desktop machine, its touch pad app, numeric keyboard app or desktop screen duplication app would link its iPhone OS to the main machine’s Mac or Windows OS. While working as a touch pad, the screen would probably go blank in order to conserve battery power and not distract the user from using it as a touch pad.

In addition to the tablet doubling up as a mouse (numeric keypad, mirror or extended screen, etc.), the consumer would be able to disconnect the tablet from the desktop machine and move around a house outfitted with a wi-fi network for general emailing, web browsing, tv streaming etc, just like other iPhone OS devices. They’d only reconnect the device to the desktop machine in order to carry out computing tasks that are too cumbersome to do on a tablet.

The beauty of this paradigm shift is that Apple gets rid of the mouse, annihilates the netbook market and monopolises the touch screen industry in one go. It also gets people ready for the day when the computer is the desktop and the desktop is the computer – no keyboard, no mouse, no screen – just the flat surface of the desk. (The flat surface preparation has already began with Apple’s introduction of low profile keyboards.) When looking at the current iMacs and their keyboards, its not hard to image how these machines could first evolve into drafting board devices and then finally into completely flat digital desktop surfaces that cover a normal table.

How did I come up with this prediction? “Elementary my dear Watson!” I collated the following tech facts and made a deduction. The facts include:

1. Reports of Chinese manufactures dropping the use of mice and adding track pads to standard keyboards i.e. one device instead of two. Some Chinese tech companies are notorious for stealing concepts before they get released. i.e. In this case the idea of getting rid of the mouse.
2. Common knowledge that Apple has been working on a tablet for a long time.
3. Apple already has an optimised OS i.e. iPhone OS for multitouch screens. It doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel, and this OS finally does everything a micro OS needs to do, like cut, copy and paste.
4. Apple is now bundling keyboards without numeric keypads so a different device can finally slot in next to the keyboard. This also means that if the device was touch screen based, it could have customised programs that simulate a numeric keypad as well as do the job of the mouse.
5. The Mac OS Finder now uses “Cover Flow”. i.e. one wouldn’t start building this into their OS unless one intended all their computers to use some form of touch screen to scroll from side to side.
6. Making upright touch screens, as Acer and HP have done are impractical and non ergonomic – they need to lie flat. Anyone who has used these screens for more than a few minutes ends up with instant RSI.
7. Apple likes to shake up markets – as it did with personal computers, MP3 players and smart phones. It’s been tracking the netbook market for sometime and is really the only company currently able to reinvent these devices as something that “everyone” will need.
8. Apple has tried the idea of a portable device docking into a desktop workstation a number of times. For example the Powerbook Duo and Duo Dock. Unfortunately, the concept never caught on even though the equipment was very robust. In addition to the dock’s commercial failure, a multi-touch tablet would effectively waste or under utilise its touch screen, especially if a docking mechanism swallowed it up. To highlight this point please see macbooktouch.com’s suggested picture of an Apple Tablet Dock.

I therefore believe Apple’s Multi-touch Tablet will be a stand alone device which doubles as a peripheral device. It will probably continue as such, until it becomes as ubiquitous as the mouse and is bundled with every computer. This prediction could be completely wrong, but I’d be very surprised if Apple didn’t do something along these lines. Too many things in the tech industry are currently pointing towards just such a development.

Post Update: 29/08/2009
There are now numerous rumors circulating that support my theory that the Apple Tablet will be a replacement for the mouse. Both are currently on the macrumors.com site i.e.
A – http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/28/apple-working-on-10-13-and-15-inch-tablets/
which talks about the tablet being made of aluminium just like the keyboard and thus complimenting the keyboard’s design.
B – http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/15/questionable-tablet-images-from-unreliable-source/
which shows a picture of a tablet made out of aluminium just like the keyboard, and again complimenting the keyboard’s design when positioned alongside the keyboard.

An additional point I’d like to make is that the tablet will be able to go both ways, act as a mouse and have a keyboard plugged in to it in order to do more serious typing.

Post Update: 08/09/2009
I’ve just discovered further circumstantial evidence to support my theory.
Please read: http://forums.macrumors.com/archive/index.php/t-653679.html

I didn’t realise that Apple had purchased FingerWorks in 2005. I believe almost all of the functionality that existed in FingerWorks products is about to appear in the yet to be released Apple Multi-touch Tablet. Its interesting to note, that I came up with my prediction independent of any knowledge of FingerWorks existence, its products and its purchase by Apple, Inc.

Post Update: 18/09/2009
An additional thought – now that Mac OS X has Grand Central Dispatch, a desktop setup which included a desktop machine and a tablet could make use of the tablet’s chip-set to increase the processing power of the desktop machine. This would occur when the tablet was being used as a multi-touch interface for the desktop machine and the chips were able to share the workload wirelessly etc. If Apple implemented this, they would be a whole generation ahead of the competition as all Apple’s machines would be made up of multiple computers that could combine their processing power.

Post Update: 20/01/2010
Since I first wrote this piece and posted the updates, a series of things has happened which I still think point towards the Apple Tablet being a paradigm shift away from using the mouse.

Firstly, Apple brought out the magic mouse which has a touch sensitive surface and is acting as an excellent bridge between the era of the mouse and the era of the tablet.

Secondly, Apple began buying up all sorts of trademarks like magic slate and ipad. To me, this points towards the idea that they want the product identified as a stand alone touch pad – as opposed to the built in touch pads on laptops.

Thirdly, after leaving fingerworks.com running since Apple bought the company, the fingerworks.com site was finally pulled on the 11/01/2010. Reason for this – they obviously don’t want the FingerWorks multitouch peripheral interfaces being compared with the multitouch tablet as a peripheral interface.

So am I right or am I wrong? According to almost everyone the Tablet and its launch is scheduled for the 27th January – just over a week away. If I am right that will give me a “hat trick” in terms of Apple predictions and force all the rumors sites to eat humble pie – I should point out, that not one of them has linked to this article. Alternatively, if I’m wrong then my track record will be ruined and I of course will be the one eating humble pie!

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009, 2010

For me though, existence is more about survival and quality of life. I’m often told, “one approach, is no better or worse than the other – they’re just different.” Needless to say, this affirmation is that of liberalist fanatics.

For better or worse, people (like me) have trouble maintaining the frivolity and excitement of achievement, especially after staring death in the face as often as we have. Most recently, I’ve decided to put the last vestiges of my own need for success and competition to rest. Its time to get on with what I have to do and not obsess over what I’d like to do.

Ironically, this doesn’t translate into not doing well at what I have to do; it’s more about, not being concerned as to what others think and not needing to compete within our social system. Still, taking this path has relegated me to the leper’s corner in more ways than one. It’s also very dubious as to whether this approach is a good long term choice for my wife and I, in regards to our financial well being. :)

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

If not for the crumbling paper
Now held in my own aging hand,
Our young would see you as vectors
Drawn from silicone etching.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

Contrary to popular opinion (i.e. that of my wife and another close friend) the frog was not me, but an amalgam of male friends who went after girls who treated them badly. In addition to this, each and everyone of these friends had other female friends who were romantically interested them and who would have made wonderful partners/companions. As often happens though, my friends ignored these girls and to this day are still seeking out wives!

I’m glad to say that unlike reality, “The Facades Of Life” does have a happy ending, for the frog and his folklore rose.

The author for the week is the essayist: George Bernard Shaw

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

Unfortunately, I never wrote down her name, can’t remember where she’s buried and can barely recall her face. What’s impossible to forget however is how she treated people. The poem is called – Her Sadness And Her Strength and was written in 1988.

The author for the week is the great Russian Orthodox fictional writer: Leo Tolstoy

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

While working through this first anthology, I’ve found my early obsession with love a bit laborious and ridiculously naive. I therefore offer up my apologies to any readers who are also finding the latest run of poems from the late 1980’s more than a bit tedious.

As with many things viewed from a distance, love had been blown out of all proportions – mainly because I had never experienced it outside my adolescent fantasies. A little bit of experience may have cured me of my obsession, but unfortunately that didn’t happen till much later in my 20’s.

In regards to this blog though, I have for better or worse made a commitment to document all the material I’ve penned over the years – the purpose being, to highlight how one develops their own voice over time. Fortunately we’re not too far away from the end of the first anthology. Subsequent anthologies do cover a wider range of topics and put my over bearing notion of love back in its place.

The author for the week is Mary Shelley’s husband, troublemaker and vegetarian extraordinaire: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

The author for the week is great novelist: Rudyard Kipling

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – July 2009

Then there’s the vintage board games, toys and manual typewriters; the music collection with a who’s who of the 60s, 70s and 80s; DVDs galore – now that all the retailers sell popular titles and TV series for under $10.

There’s 30 years of PCs, Macs and software; furniture that spans 7 decades; a stucco house that was built in the 1950s and has barely changed; the Hills Hoist cloths line; a mixture of native trees, veggies and lawn; the second love of my life – my kayak – the first of course being my wife, Helen.

Finally, we both have long hair, wear daggy cloths, love architecture and good design but have never felt the need to possess flashy things ourselves – or maybe that’s because we’ve never had a lot of money!

We critique all things political within the Australian and Pacific context; love cartoons, sitcoms from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s as well as British comedy; refuse to support the use, abuse and slaughter of other sentient beings and only consume nutritional food that has a minimal impact on the planet.

All in all, our culture is that of popular culture, yet there are those who look at my name and still presume my culture to be something altogether different. My identity is based on a mainstream (politically green) Australian footing and my moral/ethical boundaries defined by my Orthodox Christian religion.

At the age of 42, I am very comfortable with this combination. The amalgam of influences that has gone in to make the “me” is rich – a complex weave with many happy memories – especially from the 1980s and the last ten years of my marriage. I am under no illusions however that my culture is anything but popular culture, especially popular English speaking culture. I was born in Australia and bar three months of my life, have lived that entire time upon her shores. For better or worse I live the English language, think in it and revel in playing with its vocabulary and structure.

There is only one thing that is missing – my religion refuses to put down roots in this country and refuses to recognise the legitimacy of people like me. The Orthodox Christian Church treats us as though we are invisible.

All my life I have fought this attitude – it is dysfunctional and has a destructive effect on any well balanced human being. It asks one to denounce one’s actual experience and culture and adopt a culture that has no relevance to one’s everyday life. Needless to say, this has resulted in the bulk of my family and peers walking away from Orthodox Christianity all together.

Lets put aside the obvious hinderence for a moment, i.e. that its current liturgies are not accessible to English speaking mainstream Australians. The other major obstacle to participation is its ethnic based Churches and the bulk of it’s ethnic based people who are down right unwelcoming. The Church in Australia has become a closed club rather than the universal Church that Christ established – what an institutional mess!

(There are many reasons as to why this happened but the biggest contributor is that the Orthodox Faith did not establish itself in this country the way it traditionally established itself in other countries – i.e. through missionary churches.)

Unlike Bishop Kallistos Ware, who as an Anglican (in the UK) walked into an Orthodox Church and felt at home, if the average spiritually interested Australian walks into any of these ethnic based churches, at best they’ll get dirty looks, at worst they’ll be confronted and ushered out. So much for following Christ’s example of welcoming all! What is even more perplexing, is that this structure continues to baptise mainstream Australians into itself, even though there are very few places across the continent where English speakers can worship and even fewer places where they can experience a sense of belonging!

The only thing I take comfort from is that the current situation is a heresy according to Orthodoxy’s own dictum – Phyletism – which says that any church established in a new land should be operated in the language of that land – this principal has always been in our canons. The hope therefore continues to be, that in addition to these ethnic based parishes, missionary (English speaking) parishes will one day be built in this country. In a nation based on democracy and choice, one should be able to worship in the language in which they think – Indigenous, Slavic, European or English.

In the meantime, I am happy with who I am, love that I’m a product of popular culture drawn from more than five decades and that my first language is English. I have no intention of changing any of this to accommodate the short sightedness of the current administration controlling my religion.

Thus, were you to walk into our humble abode – you’ll find ABC’s Radio National blaring in the background not SBS; reruns of Seinfield and The Simpsons on TV not Inspector Rex and guitar based rock (from the 80s) streaming out of our CD player not suicidal Aegean music. You’ll also find numerous icons of the great martyrs and saints of the Church, crosses from holy places like Mount Athos and a sanctuary with an oil candle and incensor.

This is how my kind live – we do not live as Europeans, Brits or Asians, we live as Australians whose religion goes back 2000 years and is known as Orthodox Christianity – so get used to it, we’re not about to disappear anytime soon!

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2010

The next scheduled posting will be a poem that should appear here on Friday 10th July 2009.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – June 2009

In July 1988 I was working with a wonderful young woman at David Jones (Queen Street Store – Brisbane) who epitomized spunk and whom everyone liked. This poem was written for her during the month of July but was meant as a 1988 Christmas present. What I can’t remember, is whether I was daft/courageous enough to give it to her, or whether I just filed it away amongst the rest of my material. The poem was called – Someone Special

My highlighted author for the week is great novelist: Earnest Hemmingway

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – June 2009

It touches on the idea that modern western women can be feminine and take advantage of all life’s options.

The highlighted author for this week is the gothic writer: Mary Shelley

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – June 2009

Staying Invisible describes a particular lifestyle and how its informed by an Orthodox Christian world view. Wisdom Gained, Wisdom Lost… is a social commentary in regards to how current Western cultures over emphasise the importance of youth at the expense of the elderly.

The author of the week is: Edgar Allen Poe whose life was unfortunately cut short by tuberculosis.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – June 2009

It discusses the procrastination experienced by a medieval knight who reaches a fork in the road and can’t decide whether to go left or right.

The highlighted author for this week is the children’s writer: Roald Dahl

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

Great Is Truth – is another autobiographical snippet written on Tuesday about why truth and honesty have become such an important part of my life. The piece is filed under the general post category.

The highlighted author for this week is an Orthodox Christian Theologian – Alexander Schmemann whose material I greatly admire. I wish more of his work was available in print, but I am very grateful for the books that have been released.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

I spent the best part of 8 years at this university, finally leaving with a social work degree (not science) and this quote embedded in my psyche. The idea that truth does matter and is the only thing that can traverse death became an integral part of my worldview. Being honest and encouraging others to do the same was my way of putting the principle into practice – even though it caused me and those around me, all sorts of problems.

When life went horribly wrong in 1991, at the hands of those I most trusted, the need to communicate what really occurred was the only thing that kept me alive. I figured if I died, the other’s lies would have been my epitaph and no one would ever know what really happened to me.

Needless to say I was naive and a bit of a fool. What I didn’t understand, but soon learned, was that relatives (and friends) don’t necessarily care about the truth or want to know the truth. In my case, most of them chose to believe the lies being circulated because the lies were far easier to accept than having their illusion of reality shattered. The liar, who generated the lies, understood this principle well and milked the process for all it was worth. So much so, that even today, most of my family in Melbourne continues to believe this person’s misinformation about what happened in Brisbane in the 1990s – after all, lies are much easier to stomach and much more convenient to share, especially if the truth makes you look bad.

What pains me, is that experiences were turned into a “perspective” and suffering was made “invalid”, “covered up” or “erased” by both the liar and the believers of the lies. In spite of this, I have tried to treat everyone the same (both the good and the bad) and I have no intention of changing this approach. Contrary to popular opinion, I was not “brainwashed by anyone” or convinced to adopt my perspective, but have deliberately chosen not to lie about the events and not to protect the liar’s honour or hide their shameful actions.

I believe that one has to accept that certain things are right and certain things are wrong if one is to adhere to a civilised and moral code of conduct. I also believe that one needs to take responsibility for their actions and the consequences of those actions on others. Honesty should always be part of every human being’s way of life and people need to own up to having done something wrong; otherwise, trust can never develop between individuals.

As might be expected, trust no longer exists in the context I’ve described, and even though the path ahead of me looks no easier than the path behind me, I continue to denounce the lies created by both family and society in general. Presenting the truth is what I’ve come to stand for and if this upsets people (as it has done in the past), then so be it. Were I to cease presenting what I have witnessed, then what I went through in August 1991 (and since) will have been in vain!

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

It investigates the idea of what might lie ahead for one self if one could start over again as an infant.

The highlighted author for this week is the Sci-Fi writer: Alan Dean Foster

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

A society that doesn’t listen to the wisdom of age and instead looks to its youth for guidance is not sustainable. Its operational basis is that of experiential waste – just look at what happens when it’s taken to extremes like the killing fields in Cambodia. Unfortunately, we are at risk of never becoming a mature society, and if we continue to also taunt nature with our jibes that the planet is our offspring’s to do with as they please – our eradication by the Earth is all but guaranteed. The planet will eventually scratch us off its surface, like a dog scratches off fleas – indiscriminately.

It’s a shame that this is what we’ve become, because this wasn’t always the case in Western countries like Australia. There was a time when we did advance our culture, adding to our civility as gentlemen and ladies, and passing that onto our children – but that was prior to the baby boomers taking over the world, and setting up the current youth orientated standard for all subsequent generations to follow. One can only hope that we’ll eventually produce a generation that challenges the current status quo and begins respecting the insight of its elderly.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

The tale is quite haunting and I’ve often thought about its implications in regards to how much of a public figure Christ was in his own time. The thing that’s most intriguing, is that reading between the lines of scripture and what the traditional Church teaches, one can’t help but notice that Christ himself did not seek the limelight or even like it. The best supporting evidence we have of this is how He implemented numerous techniques that emphasised his own words and works but not Himself. One of these techniques was of course never writing anything down. In spite of this, His story has been passed down from generation to generation, and it’s often retold as though His presence brought Jerusalem to a stand still – on more than one occasion. I fear this is inconsistent with the nature of the God-Man, who we are told was quietly spoken and “did not even break the bent reed” (1 Ki 14:15; Isa 42:3; Mt 12:20).

Like many of the greatest figures in history, what he said and how he lived his life was so inspirational that people couldn’t help but place him on a pedestal for others to worship – our species has done this from the very beginning – idolising those who have something new to offer. I expect that He Himself was quite invisible outside of those who knew him. The message he left behind was so amazing however, that it changed the course of human history (and spread exponentially).

At the core of the oldest forms of Christianity, this humility is still acknowledged and followed. We who fall under the Orthodox Christian umbrella are taught to live our lives well, follow His example and not make a big deal out of our way of life. In the East, this approach is understood to be the best way of encouraging others to do the same. The original Christians, the Orthodox, still don’t proselytize as many of today’s Protestants do. Sincere Orthodox Christians offer up their lives as an example of the Faith – and in so doing, hope that people who choose to join the religion, do so because they like what they see in regards to the Orthodox lifestyle and worship.

Unfortunately our media driven world has led many people, even within Orthodox Christianity, to choose the opposite road to anonymity. The need to be the centre of attention is a very seductive thing – just like the rest of our Western lifestyles.

For better or for worse, I have tried to live my life the way I believe Christ did, though not always successfully. Rather than stand at the front and postulate, demanding that people look at me, I stand at the back and hope that what I have learnt and how I have lived is a helpful guide to others. My philosophy is therefore – “stay invisible”, for in so doing, you may in fact have a personal impact on those around you and you will in fact be following in Christ’s footsteps.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

The commentary: Hope For The Planet… is a thought I had while on the train heading into Brisbane. Pulling into Roma Street Station I noticed a slab of concrete that had grass growing through a crack in its centre. Contrary to what Queensland Rail might think, I found this very encouraging.

The autobiographical snippet: Having No Desk… is something I’ve been wanting to write and upload for some time, but I didn’t have a place on the blog for autobiographical prose. In the end I’ve decided to just list it as a general posting.

The highlighted author for this week is a Futurist and Inventor – Ray Kurzweil

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

Most of that winter was spent in a tiny uninsulated room, trying to complete my degree’s third year social work subjects. I had to turn a drawer upside down and balance it on boxes on either side of my legs – just to get a level surface to write on. I can’t remember how much material I wrote in this setting, but it was horribly uncomfortable and incredibly demoralising. I was supposed to become a Physicist, for goodness sake, and here I was churning out Marxist dribble on the bottom of a drawer in Brisbane’s dampest suburb – Graceville.

During my darkest hours in 1989, I often thought about my grandparents and how they had migrated to Australia in order to ensure their descendants had a better standard of living. My parent’s actions inevitably put an end to that dream leaving me to fend for myself. Ill health and a lack of resources subsequently left me homeless. The fact that Graceville’s resident Casanova was kind enough to let me use his spare room, before I froze to death in my antiquated Subaru Sherpa, was my only break.

As someone who values writing above all else, it is interesting to note, that each time I found myself homeless in the late 1980s / early 1990s, the main thing that bothered me was having no desk. My lack of food and the absence of a bed seemed to come a distant second. When I finally bought a new desk, I was so used to “not having” possessions that I found it difficult to give myself permission “to have” the desk – even though it was desperately needed.

Now that its 2009, and life has greatly improved, it’s time to make way for a more functional writing environment, especially if I want to complete that piece of speculative fiction, that has clung to me like a 400 pound gorilla. :) Once the room is set up, I’ll post a few pictures of my custom built writing environment. Regarding my writing from 1989 – thank goodness for wide drawers and cardboard boxes! ;)

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

These defiant acts of nature remind us that life is waiting in the wings for humanity to stumble. And were we to trip and fall, the Earth’s ecosystem would take over and run things the way they should have been run in the first place.

It’s heartening to discover, that life will out last our destructive presence even if we don’t.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

This piece of verse belongs to the “Growing Up” anthology and was written in April 1988 – the exact date in April was not recorded. As with many of my pieces from that era, it too is about the emotional turmoil associated with identifying a partner or life long companion. If I had just focused on finding someone that wanted to go out on a date first instead of marriage, I may have had better success! :)

The highlighted author for this week is another children’s writer – Beatrix Potter

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – May 2009

At a head level I’ve always found that religion and theology are helpful in dealing with loss, but at an emotional level it makes no difference to the ongoing grief because I know that even if I do encounter them in an afterlife, they will not be the same being I knew on earth.

I also pointed out to my friend, that I often look for my lost friends in other humans / creatures only to discover and rediscover that nothing more than aspects and traits of my friends’ personas are ever present in others – one never, ever, sees the whole again.

Once dead, their uniqueness is always lost to the world, irrespective of what one might believe happens in an afterlife.

This week’s highlighted author is: Thomas Keneally

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – April 2009

The only way to witness a life’s uniqueness again, especially after it dies, is to step outside of time, travel along the continuum, open a portal and witness it within its living context.

Additionally, when outside time, no life is the same as it was while alive within time. This is because the time variable and the time variable’s effect on the being has been removed. One will never again see the being that’s present before them after the moment has passed. Which makes it even more important that one appreciates each encounter and each engagement.

In a very real sense then, each time you see a being, it is the first and last time you will see them in the form that they’re in, for all life invariably changes as each moment passes.

It therefore follows, that every time you look out into the world, you are in fact seeing it for the very first time, even if you think that you’ve looked at that very same scene each and everyday of your life.

Savor the moment – as the ancient’s used to say. Savor your witnessing of a life, for you will never see it in quite the same way again. Both you and it will be different beings by the time you next meet.

The living are truly fortunate as trillions of unique moments are seen and experienced before each and everyone of us dies – no matter how short our lives. What an amazing thing it is then, to exist within time, even if it is filled with flaws, loss and sadness.

Dedication – For our little girl Molly…
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

Some of my earliest memories include attending Orthodox Christian services on this day. My maternal grandmother – Olga, would drag me around to all the liturgies during Holy Week, and though I understood nothing, she was determined to show me everything.

Since then, most of my adult life has been spent exploring and defending my Faith in spite of its adherents’ many short comings. My ability to “turn a blind eye” however is rapidly failing, not because anything has changed in my relation to the Faith, but because the abhorrent attitudes and behaviour of so many Orthodox Christians has become metaphysically dysfunctional – a lot of people below the age of 40, now follow the ritual without the spiritual. This approach has reached such epidemic proportions, that many are guilty of what the Protestants have always argued – i.e. that all we’re capable of is meaningless spectacle without any real relationship to God.

Those who know me, know I have always argued that our lack of reverence for God and worship is a direct outcome of the Faith being locked behind ethnic languages – especially in counties like Australia i.e. not being able to worship in the language in which one thinks can’t help but seed such a religious disaster. If the basis to the issue was that simple though, all one would have to do is change the language of the service and the problem would be corrected. Unfortunately, it’s becoming obvious that much more than language is to blame.

The problem also includes how “transplanted peasant culture and parishioner ignorance” has been fostered for generations, so much so, that many people born into Orthodoxy genuinely believe that as long as you go through the motions of the Faith, you are religious, (spiritually cleansed and ultimately saved). I’ve lost count of the number of people I know who are Atheists, but who show up every year at Pascha (Easter), hold the fast, attend services and even take communion though they don’t believe in Christ, let alone God. The religion is just a subset of their ancestral nationalisms and nothing has been done to educate and in turn discourage such an approach.

Which brings me to my main point – at a time when we should be reflecting on Christ’s suffering and sacrifice for humanity; at a time when we should be trying to emulate His infinite compassion for all creation; and at a time when we should be repenting from our dysfunctional and destructive natures – most of my brethren are obsessed with the deprivation of ritualistic fasting and unable to wait for their orgy of over indulgence come Sunday morning around 3:00 am. So much for faith helping with one’s personal evolution and the fast being a personal sacrifice we offer back to God!

The fact that Australia’s Orthodox will smash millions of battery hen eggs then toss those eggs into bins, seems to be a non-issue – it doesn’t matter that there’s an inconsistency between Christ’s message of compassion and how these animals suffer unspeakable miseries in order to produce a resource that just gets wasted. The fact that countless animals will be slaughtered for an overindulgence that is not necessary (especially when we have grains like amaranth, chia, quinoa which use far less of the planet’s resources) and that we openly ignore how much of the earth’s human population doesn’t have enough to eat on a daily basis – is conveniently forgotten as more meat is shovelled into already overfed mouths. The fact that Orthodox parishioners don’t even know what the term Theosis means, how it is a corner stone of their own religion and how their cultural based lifestyles are the antithesis of Christ’s message of openness, temperance, balance and an ongoing focus on God – doesn’t seem to matter – but then again why should it, when vast numbers of Australia’s Orthodox Christians don’t even believe in God let alone the Trinity or the theology of the Faith.

Maybe I’m just being picky here, but I still think that when we remove the spiritual basis of a religion, it just becomes superstition. Albeit a complex form of superstition, but a superstition none the less. I’m just glad my grandmother isn’t alive to see what the descendants of the post war migrants in Australia have done to her beloved Faith. Rather than it being a means to an end i.e. the ongoing struggle to emulate Christ, it has become a non-sustainable end in itself.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – April 2009

This piece of verse belongs to the “Growing Up” anthology and was written in April 1988. It’s a minimalist piece that captured simple feelings I was experiencing when visiting Brisbane’s Expo 88.

The highlighted author for this week is another scientist – Steven Hawking , specifically his book “A Brief History Of Time“.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – April 2009

This is another recent poem and falls into the ungrouped category. The piece is a tribute to Betty Cutlack, one of the few people in our neighbourhood that made us feel genuinely welcome when we bought our place. Betty’s passing deeply affected the feel of the street – it suddenly got a lot more impersonal – a sign of our non-communal times I suppose. Apparently, she lived in her house (which her husband built) for over 50 years. Her husband, who passed away back in 2004, also has a poem dedicated to him i.e. “A Neighbour Weeding”

Unfortunately I have no highlighted author for this week.

Readers might have noticed however, that I’ve fixed up the navigation and layout of the blog’s side bar. With a bit of luck, I’m hoping to improve more of the structure of the site in the near future. I’ll keep you abreast of any such developments.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – April 2009

This week’s poem: The Jolly Bunch – was written back in 1987 as a compilation of various experiences I had while catching late night trains at Dutton Park station. In all instances, I was on may way home from university – a place which I hated from the start because of its impersonal nature. I never seemed to tire of observing people’s behaviour however and was often more interested in the personalities on campus as well as the train passengers to and from home. What I was formally studying took a distant second place to my people studies. :) The poem’s structure also pays homage to the essay read out loud in English class by John Cusack’s character in the Rob Reiner film “The Sure Thing”. The piece is very much tongue and cheek and was never intended to be taken seriously.

This week’s highlighted author is: Mem Fox.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – March 2009

This piece is another recent poem and falls into the ungrouped category. Its central theme covers how insensitive many men are in regards to their wives’s feelings. It’s based on an amalgam of marriages I’ve observed over the years and includes some of my own marriage’s experiences.

This week’s highlighted author is: Arthur Conan Doyle.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – March 2009

This piece belongs to the “Growing Up” anthology and was written in February 1989 – the exact date of writing is unknown. The poem is a juxtaposition on last week’s verse which highlighted how I no longer enjoyed returning to the memories of my childhood. I think enough time has past for me to accept that my childhood wasn’t all “it was cracked up to be”.

In regards to this week’s poem – it explores how our imaginary playmates, hang around even when we choose to ignore them and/or no longer need them. As in the lyrics to “Puff The Magic Dragon“, I think these friends are probably an extension of our human psyche. Who knows, they may even have their own self awareness.

And finally, I’m starting to regret that I didn’t publicly release these poems much sooner – some pieces may have been of use to others during the course of the last 20 years. I suppose releasing them now, ensures its still better late than never, plus, I tend to forget that I didn’t have the luxuary of the World Wide Web back in 1989 (to digitally publish this material). ;)

This week’s highlighted author is: Mark Twain.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – March 2009

This piece is a recent ungrouped poem and captures a sense of well being that occurred while stumbling around outside our house. Such moments of grace tend to be few and far in between – especially for individuals like me. One can only hope that their frequency increases, but then again, without life’s little disappointments and emotional tortures, one’s fountain of verse does have a tendancy to dry up. ;)

This week’s highlighted author is: Ray Bradbury.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – March 2009

I now understand,
That all I saw
Were the multitudes
Of colourful flowers,
Produced by the weeds.
Never realising,
That the weeds themselves
Could rise up
And strangle the admirer,
Whose back was turned.

Yet that was then.
Today, with graying stubble
My sandy lot is cleared,
Made ready
For the growing of food.
And I finally know,
That everything is OK
As I carry my hoe upright,
Into the crisp warmth
Of the Bay’s glassy sunlight.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

This piece of verse also belongs to the “Growing Up” anthology and was written in June 1988. It was my attempt to document what had happened to a work mate’s friend in the welfare sector. As a warning to readers, its quite a depressing piece, exploring the suicide of an individual who refused to seek clinical treatment for their mental illness.

I had thought this poem had been lost during one of the many “house moves” in my 20’s. Hopefully other missing pieces will now surface from the depths of my files.

Been a difficult seven days, so there’s no highlighted author for this week.

Kind regards – Vasilios Theodorakis – February 2009

This piece belongs to the “Growing Up” anthology and was written on Saint Patrick’s Day in 1988 – 17/03/88. The theme is fairly obvious i.e. wanting to talk to, and get to know someone (I had a crush on) but being too scared to do so. For better or worse, the poem highlights my naivety about women and relationships (even though I was already 21). Like many people of my generation, I had received no guidance or advice as to what a healthy and genuine relationship might entail. Unfortunately, I had also grown up with no useful adult role models and as a consequence, frantically read far too many autobiographies and biographies to compensate.

Readers will find that a number of my poems, from 1988 to 1998, follow a similar theme but the period thankfully ends in identifying what a lasting relationship isn’t i.e. that the warm fuzzy infatuation has nothing to do with finding a long term companion for oneself. It also took a while to understand that good relationships were reciprocal and based on gentleness, kindness and affection. My wife Helen, who epitomises all these traits, proved that it pays to persist with one’s search for a life partner.

This week’s highlighted author is: Brian Greene – in particular his novel “The Elegant Universe“.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – February 2009

This piece comes from a series of poems written in 1987 for the “Growing Up” anthology. Like many of these early poems, the exact date of writing was not recorded. The posted date is therefore an approximate – I do know, that the poem was written close to Christmas 1987 and was a response to a female shop assistant I worked with at the time.

As usual, I’ve also added a link to another author I greatly admire: Isaac Asimov.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – February 2009

Hope had filled
The dingy of marriage;
Cedar solid,
It pushed off from uncertainty,
Travelling north
And sometimes finding,
All it had
Between its sails,
Were her sobs
In the laundry,
His shame
At his ways.

Still, their stubbornness
Kept them afloat,
Minimising each other’s distress
And capturing each other’s strength.
Eyes locked on the horizon,
The direction
Of their negotiated compass,
Often corrected for life’s turbulence.
While the deviation
Of the field’s flickering,
Was deemed acceptable
In spite of each other’s shortcomings.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2009

This piece comes from a series of ungrouped poems written in 2001.

I’ve also added a link to another author I greatly admire: Greg Bear.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – February 2009

Irrespective of what mainstream Australian’s claim the day represents – all that really matters is that far too many Indigenous Australians feel disrespected (yet again) by the celebrations that occur on this day. Aboriginal people’s feelings need to be acknowledged and a more appropriate and inclusive date identified as Australia Day.

Unfortunately, where we live there are no protests to help mark the day. We do however live close to a park that used to be a meeting ground for the Indigenous clans of Moreton Bay. It was used for gatherings for 1000’s of years and we know this (from historical records) because of the midden mounds (that were present at the location) and the fact that local Aboriginal people continued to meet there right into the twentieth century.

To highlight how much mainstream Australian’s valued this meeting place, the Queensland Government forcibly moved the last of the Indigenous people that met there (its unknown what happened to them) and the local council decided to dump its rubbish on the site for a number of decades. The tip was eventually covered up with top soil, ovals were built for sport and a park for dogs was created. Finally the name was changed from Black’s Camp to something more mainstream – Elanora Park, and the fact that the location was important for the local clans was expunged from the public record. The signage at the Park (to this day) makes no reference to its significance to the original peoples.

For two years now, my wife and I have visited the location on Australia Day to pay our respects to the original people who lived on the land that we now live on. This year I wrote the following piece for us to read each and every year until this country acknowledges and begins to respect its Aboriginal people and its Aboriginal past. Health permitting I intend to keep reading this out loud under the figs, next to the mangroves (in the park) every 26th of January, or at least until a more appropriate date for Australia Day is chosen.

“Paying Our Respects – 26th January 2009″

Today we remember our Indigenous brothers and sisters who have been murdered, beaten, raped, diseased, displaced, ignored and forgotten for 221 years.

We remember that they met here peacefully on this midden mound whose name we no longer know.

We remember that here they rested, discussed and resolved problems that the different clans of the Bay encountered for thousands of years.

We remember that we are standing on land which they believed could not be owned but only looked after by humans – i.e. entrusted in guardianship. That all people belong to the land but that the land cannot be owned by any one person.

We remember that as a many Nationed peoples, they were invaded and that the land was never lawfully settled by the non-Indigenous peoples, as no treaties were ever signed with the original inhabitants, as no attempts were made to protect the original languages and culture, and that the original people’s presence was never acknowledged in any meaningful way.

Today we remember that picking this day as the national day of the country is an insult to the surviving Indigenous Australians and disrespects the Indigenous people who died and suffered over the last 221 years. We look forward to a time when this county’s national day is inclusive of all Australians, when its flag represents all Australians and its Head Of State is answerable only to Australians.

Sadly, we had the whole park to ourselves as we read this out loud and reflected on the day.

Personally I think the date on which we become a Republic should be celebrated as Australia Day – a neutral day that includes all people. For example the 1st July – six months from 1st January (Federation Day) might be a good date. Things that also need to be looked at simultaneously include: the republic, the flag, the governor general and the date of Australia Day.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – January 2009

This piece comes from a series of ungrouped poems written towards the end of 2008.

I’ve also added a link to another author I greatly admire: Oodgeroo Noonuccal.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – January 2009

This piece comes from a series of ungrouped poems written towards the end of 2008.

I’ve also added a link to another author I greatly admire: Charles Dickens.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – January 2009

This piece comes from a series of ungrouped poems written towards the end of 2008 and reflects on what people go through who manage various forms of P.T.S.D. (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).

I’ve also added a link to another author I greatly admire: Albert Facey.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – January 2009

Though cutting it a bit fine, I should be finishing the year by uploading a single poem per week (as I had hoped). All things going well, I should also be able to stick to this minimum posting in 2009. Again a big thank you to all this blog’s readers who’ve hung around during an excruciating slow 2008.

In addition to Shadow Takes Reality I’ve also added some links to other authors, whose work I’ve read over the years. These include: John Chryssavgis, C.S. Lewis, Frank J. Tipler, Saint Andrew Of Bethsaida and Saint Nicholas Of Myra.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – December 2008

When queried about this,
The Gorukle replied -
We thought you’d return.
We left everything as it was,
For you were our friends, our brothers, our sisters,
And these things were not ours to take.
It never dawned on the Christians
Who reached the promised land
To extend such a courtesy.
The Christians deserved all that was abandoned
And left nothing for the Moslems to return to -
Moving into their homes almost immediately.
And yet, to this day
My kind
Claim to be the better human beings.
Now why is that again?

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2008

These people
Were never family!
Thank goodness
For the Grant-ed role model,
Which now fills the void
The emotional chasm left behind
By those who tainted the sacred.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2008

“Traumateous Polemous” (translation – injuries of war)
Was my grandfather’s term.
I sometimes wonder
If he imagined
Such things could occur
Within the sterile walls
Of Suburbia.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2008

The aim now is to recommence work on this blog at some point in 2008 and maintain a regular upload each week – irrespective of how small that upload might be. Grandiose expectations of editing and uploading 4 poems a week have fallen by the wayside and just uploading a single piece might prove more realistic. My appologies to people who have been visiting here since the 11th of January. My condition is such that I don’t have much control over its state, and have to work its management into my daily routine. This often means it takes precidence over everything else – especially when it gets acute.

I’ve finally added some wiki links to two other authors I greatly admire – Robert Louis Stevenson and Nikos Kazantzakis. Both these writers were brilliant social commentators in their time, challenging issues of inequity every step of the way. In spite of no longer being a practicing social worker myself, social justice is never too far from my mind, no matter what type of work I’m carrying out. Thus, my ongoing interest in the writings of such people like Stevenson and Kazantzakis.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2008

Awake at last
We know there will be
No further sleep,
For sentience
Demands action
When faced with truth
And our earthly role,
To voice the voiceless,
Must be placed on a pedestal and heeded,
In spite of the hordes
And what they might do,
When finally, we speak!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2008

Her husband,
In conversation – lit up her eyes.
Missed desperately,
She spoke fondly
Of his construction at the back.

Her neighbour – the one that stayed,
Known as possum man to the kids,
Bugger Lugs to her.
Observing his antics, eyebrows raised,
She tolerated his ways – taken with fistfuls of salt.

Our house – the one on the corner,
Forever labeled the Kelly’s,
Held stories of her son and their daughter,
Asleep on the floor,
More comfortable it seemed, than his bed at his mum’s.

Our family,
She greeted with a Xmas type card,
Embraced without judgement
She snuck it past doors,
Wondering on tip toe – who we might be.

Our presence,
In time – seeded many a smile.
Rewarded – now and then, with a cup of tea or a beer.
A little something, she’d say, to toast
The couple – she was certain, would stay.

Her dottering gone – I still radar the yards.
Peering over our fence,
As much as our cat – who continues to hope,
That her saucer returns,
With his contraband milk and a pat on the back.

Dedication (For Betty Cutlack)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2008

Before I do however, I’d like to thank the site’s many readers for their feedback and support from (across the globe). Its been very rewarding to discover that material which was stored away in archive boxes (and forgotten) for so many years is of some use and enjoyment to people out there on the Net.

This last set of poems, rounds up the year’s uploads to 52 – a good start I think, but there’s a lot more material to get through in the next few years.

The poems for this week include:
- Learning
- Human Within Humanity
- Once Upon A…
From the “Growing Up” anthology

And:
- Curvature
From a series of ungrouped poems written in 2001.

All things going well, I look forward to resuming my verse uploads in January 2008. Until then, keep safe and have a wonderful holiday/religious period.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – December 2007

And:
- Cleared City Land
From a series of ungrouped poems written in 1998.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – November 2007

And:
- Beginnings
From a series of ungrouped poems written in 1997.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – November 2007

The poems for this week take the total number to 40. Editing and uploading has occurred for 13 consecutive weeks.

The titles include:
- Love
- Parting With An Incapacitated Friend
- Completeness
From the “Growing Up” anthology

And:
- Monkeyed
From a series of ungrouped poems written in 2006.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – November 2007

Lets review what has worked so far and what hasn’t…

What Has Worked:
- three poems a week.
- poems in the order in which they were written.

What Has Not Worked:
- not uploading any recent poems.
- audio recordings which are taking far too long to generate.
- discovering mistakes in poems that have already had their audio and text uploaded to the site.

Because of the above issues, my weekly upload will now be based on the following:
- editing and uploading the next three poems in the order in which they were written.
- uploading a more recent poem each week.
- not carrying out any audio recordings until I’m certain a poem has reached a static (and correct) form.
- adding an audio version (MP3) and a printable version (PDF) to a poem’s posting once I know a poem is stable.

What does this mean for visitors? Audio recordings will be added independent of text uploads (and only when I’m certain that I haven’t missed any editorial corrections). The number of poem uploads will increase to four per week i.e. three older poems and one recent poem.

This week will be the last of the three poem per week format. I’d like to thank the site’s many visitors for their patience while I continue to iron out “how to proceed” in populating the site with its content. :)

The poems for this week include:
- Poverty
- Friend
- Budgerigar

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – November 2007

Though this early writing is a genuine reflection of where I was at during the 1980’s, its not much of a reflection of what I write today. As a result, I ask that readers grimace and ‘bare with me’ as I get this early material online. I hope that the anthologies which follow “Growing Up” are more to people’s liking.

I’ve also realised that some pieces are primarily thoughts – diary entries on scraps of paper which don’t have any poetic form at all. I’ve decided that instead of trying to incorporate these pieces as poetry, I’ll upload the material to the prose section instead i.e. ensuring that the work is still documented and available, but not being passed off as poetry.

All pieces from this week’s selection are still part of the “Growing Up” anthology – the splice of “Growing Up” and more recent work will begin in a few weeks time week.

The interesting thing about this week’s work is that it includes poems with various forms of rhyme. Rhyme was a technique that I dabbled in before developing my own style. Rhyming schemes haven’t been used in the bulk of my writing, as I felt they set up to many restraints for what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it.

Again I’ve run out of time in regards to the audio versions – I will endeavor to get back to making recordings as soon as possible.

The poems for this week include:
- A Thought Of Peace.
- A Father’s Stand…
- The Loss Of Love?

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2007

It includes:
- The Universe – Force
- Nationality
- Time

My voice is almost back to normal, so I should be able to add audio versions for all subsequent postings. I’ll also endeavour to add an audio component to the last three week’s worth of material. This may take about a month to complete.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2007

Ironically, many of the hopes this adolescent wrote about – like not wanting to be a wage slave, did become my reality. (Not through choice mind you, but through circumstance – as a result, I have this to say to any young people out there – ‘be careful what you wish for, it may just come to pass!’) Because the ‘lad’s’ writing is so distant from what I do today, I’ve tried to keep the editing of these pieces to a minimum. In many ways, these poems have a greater (personal) historical significance than any poetic value – i.e. they track/highlight how my writing style developed. This first anthology was collated from 1983 through to 1990 and titled – “Growing Up”. It contains more than 50 pieces in total.

This week’s selection comes from 1983 and includes:
- Emptiness Within
- Recovery
- The Circle

I’ve also scanned some art work from this same era. The first image is of calligraphy I had created for the folder that housed all the poems (in this anthology). The second image is of a drawing I was going to use for the cover of the anthology i.e. if it ever got published. As I don’t intend to use this image, when I finally self publish this material, I thought it might be of some interest to web readers.

Unfortunately, my voice is still not 100%, so these poems will also have to wait for their audio to be added at a later date.

Finally, please keep in mind, that it wasn’t until 1987 that I started to add exact dates to pieces. As a result, poems from 1983 to 1986 are arranged in the order in which they were written and within the year in which they were written, but the actual date that they appear on this site is only an estimate.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2007

In the meantime, this week’s selection includes:
- A Neighbour Weeding
- Out Of Mind
- Cleo The Cat

In addition to this I’ve finally added the about the author page to give readers some idea of who they’re dealing with here. :)

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2007

The selection includes:
- Casting Off The Handed Down Toxin.
- Chaos In Sterility – The Western World…
- The Youth Wage.

In addition to this I’ve also updated the poetry index page, so that readers can view a complete list of poems at a glance. As of this week the site holds 21 pieces of verse in text and audio formats.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – October 2007

My appologies to people who’d like more regular verse, but at this stage, I can’t get more time off work.

Regarding what’s coming up in the next few weeks – hopefully, more information on the static pages; another week’s worth of early 1990s material; one more week’s worth of recent material – and then, I go all the way back to the start and begin systematically uploading poems and anthologies in the order in which they were written i.e. from 1983 onwards. The aim is to complete the “Growing Up” anthology first – before I do anything else.

As always – any NEW poems, commentaries, etc., I write, will be uploaded as I complete my editing process.

This week’s selection includes more poems from the early 1990s.
- An Order
- Going Home, To Rest…
- The Onward Struggle – Making A Place Of Our Own

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2007

The selection includes more poems from the early 1990s.
- Me? You? …Us.
- Happy Endings…
- To Quell The Racism…

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2007

The selection includes some of my favorites from 1994, 1993 and 1991.
- Cotton, Steel and Plastic.
- Soul Port
- Too Fast.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2007

This week’s three pieces have been uploaded simultaneously instead of appearing in a staggered manner. Normally, this ’site update’ will appear at the end of the week providing a summary of the work that has been undertaken in the last seven days.

So far I’ve been able to stick to the three poem per week (editing) quota, without too much trouble. i.e. As we’re in our third week of operation, the site has 9 poems (in text and audio formats)

In time I’ll be adding a little info about each poem, but this will be located on the index poetry page.

Now to this week’s selection – all poems come from 2001.
- A Lite Blanket, A Brick Wall…
- Soldier Blood
- W.T.C.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – September 2007

Death is just an interesting dinner table topic to many of these people – nothing more. The cult of ‘Ego’ and ‘Eternal Youth’ reigns supreme, and after that chardonnay washes down that expensive dinner, all thoughts of one’s place in the world are restored to ‘Normal’. They of course, will read this fragment of prose and think I am talking about someone else, but then again, that’s the way it should be – I expect…

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

The format of every recording is as follows: spoken track, background track and copyright notice at the end of each recording. Each anthology of poems will have a different backing track, and ungrouped poems from the last four years, will initially be released without such a track. The backing track is associated with the anthology’s theme. Being an MP3 file, title and author information should also be viewable on people’s MP3 equipment or computers.

You can download the audio version of each poem by right clicking your mouse and selecting ’save target as…’ (Windows) or ’save link…’/'download linked file…’ (Mac) from the displayed menu. This will allow you to archive a copy to your desktop or harddrive. Once I’ve uploaded more material, I will also be adding the site’s RSS feed to podcast services like iTunes etc, which should make it easier to locate and obtain audio copies of poems.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – August 2007

Though we all do this (to some extent), all that really counts is what we “know to be true”, i.e. that which exists beyond belief and which presents itself “after the dark night of the soul” (after your Faith has been destroyed by doubt and reconstructed using material that you “know to be true”). Let me put it another way – to quote Seth in the movie “City of Angels” – ’some things are true whether you believe in them or not’. The problem is, we often ignore what we “know to be true”.

For example, you can construct as many layers as you want to hide the facts, but reality and existence are not changed by those layers. Just look at all the misery in people’s lives, even though they’ve constructed and surrounded themselves with layers we now know as lifestyles! One can choose to live such lifestyles, or one can choose not to live such lifestyles – its up to the individual – the principle behind it is still the same – free will. What doesn’t change however is that the “lifestyle” doesn’t alter a person’s underlying reality.

A friend of mine, recently raised the fact that she knows her ‘ego wants it (life) to be more sensational and more exotic’, so she’s making decisions accordingly. “The ego wants it (life) to be more sensational and more exotic…”? What path have we convinced ourselves to trundle down? Is she for example, about to make decisions that will lead her into “selfless service” or into “having an adventure and feeling good about herself”! What I don’t understand is this, if one REALLY wants to work with the needy, what’s wrong with helping the poorer Indigenous Communities in one’s own country. I can count on one hand the number of schools that teach children their Indigenous Language and English, their Culture and Mainstream Culture, etc. especially in countries like Australia. Few here, want to work with or even respect this country’s original people. No one wants to LEARN their language, and it continues to be an indictment on this nation as to how many Indigenous Australians are not treated as equals!

We should be ensuring that our decisions (regarding selfless service) are part of the solution, not part of the problem. I’m sick and tired of “community workers” going into other contexts across the globe (i.e. other countries), perpetuating the colonialist model of the 19 Century, setting themselves up as the experts and teaching the “locals” how good things can be. I’ve been through this again and again with misdirected social workers and I can’t stand the outcome – both the inflated egos and the downtrodden locals. If one wants to go down this path – no one can really stop them, but they shouldn’t expect others to support an action that patronises another group of people. This approach has already been perpetuated by far too many Westerners. If one ignores history, because they think its boring, one risks making the same mistakes again and again.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

The best any of us can do (as most religions tell us), is to sit still (stay put), know what we are good at and use that in service without any expectation of reward (or revelation). To think we are being rewarded (and important enough to be guided) is the complete opposite of our call to (humble) service. I can’t imagine the Theotokos was into what she could get out of the deal – who in their right mind would hand over their “will” completely – she of course could and did – it was her gift to humanity, her LEGACY to the future, her attempt at Theosis (which is yet to be matched). There was the initial confusion (of pregnancy) of course and then a lifetime of follow through based on her gifts. And yes, many (of the rest) of us lead a lifetime of confusion, before there’s a follow through based on our gifts. But at least some of us, find ourselves walking into the stable at the 11th hour! So if we’re advised by our religion to sit still – it means to sit still! One could spend the rest of one’s life galavanting around the world, but that’s just another form of running from a commitment to service!

Take responsibility for where things are at, then make the most of what you can do. Waiting for signs is more about ego and our interpretation of reality than about reality itself i.e. Intrinsic Truth is always right before our eyes, no matter which direction we turn our faces (even when we turn our faces away from God) – there are no need for signs. Life is the sign, breath is its proof – all we need to do is open our eyes…

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

I continue to view reality through Trinitarian (Orthodox Christian) eyes, though its highly unfashionable and often gets me into trouble.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

Also, please keep in mind that my work will not necessarily appear at the start of the blog as each piece will be accurately date stamped e.g. 20 August 1991, in order to authentically highlight when it was written. This means that a new release will not necessarily appear as the latest posting, but will show up within the site. You’ll need to make use of the RSS feed (from the site) to know where and in which time period the new piece has appeared.

And finally, thank you to friends and family who’ve unconditionally supported and encouraged the creation of this site to promote my poetry (and other writing). A special thank you to my wife Helen, who harrassed me daily (for almost ten years) to begin releasing my work publicly. Helen – I’m sorry its taken this long, but better late than never. :)

So, I thank you all again for your patience, and hope the material you find on this website proves worthy of your belief in it, and in me.

Cheers – Vasilios Theodorakis – August 2007

To voice a goodbye
Free falls away
Favouring fate
That follows
Endings of uncrossed paths.
This thought, again replayed -
Is layed out in full,
Brushed with care,
And cradled for a time.
Turned, and again checked for its emotional ID.

Unlike fe-lines
Our kind, cannot predict
The seasons as once we did.
Nor, pre-empt such unseen loss.
Not being there could not be helped.
Cleo waited as long as she could,
Hung her thanks
Upon the decades of love, woven right around the house,
And heeded the call of her origin -
Returning home, one last time.

What she would’ve liked,
Was for all to recall
That, were it not for this family
Of open hearts
And unchecked time,
Trust would not have transformed from bud to bloom -
And 26 years
Of connected
Sighs, laughs and affection felt,
Could not have come to pass.

This Schrödinger’s cat was truly alive -
Thanks to the few who stepped up to the task,
Peered into the box,
And on tip-toes, pulled her little self into their lives.
She was that lifetime plaque
Of reciprical commitments,
Often drapped around the necks of the Decent,
And there could be no regrets
About such an arrangement,
Now could there.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

In role
Us – the Outsiders,
Witness their ‘fade away’
As another torso
Is lost to the faceless crowd
Of sensibility.
Thank goodness, these brothers and sisters
Have a place to call home – the Mall.
Without it,
I shudder at the thought of their fate.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 90sec / 707kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

Dedication (For Rachel Robinson)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2007

Abandoned by light and sugared by thorns,
Youth declare meaningless wisdom
As the basis to their body’s vacant room.

And somehow, this has come to stand
For modern insight – hard driven inspiration;
Even though, none of the words
Challenge reality,
And the Oracle
Of the Room never replies
To the half hearted questions,
Posed by a whole generation
Of self strangled,
Still born adults.

Our life giving Spark,
Has media mutated
Into a naked Primate,
Dressed in plaid
And given to shouting,
The ego’s own chant – “Who do I love? Myself!”
So much for the archetypal need to look beyond -
To seek out lyrics, folklore and fairy-tales.
So much for ionic philosophy and religion -
Or the desire to produce instead of consume.

The ‘Y’s, no longer know how
To fill the Void
When the camp fires go out.
Instead, they catch themselves
Staring off into the distance,
Dreaming up nothing,
And hoping that their magical consoles
Will re-ignite tomorrow,
Allowing the world
To offer up Noise! – More blessed Noise!

Such an approach, was once an anathema -
Known to regress our species’ evolution.
But now, all manner of glitter balls take centre stage
Locking in the legacy -
Of talons for the sleek, manure for the brave!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
New Word (Monkeyed – adj. regressing the evolution of one’s own species.)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2006

This, I have witnessed.
This, do I know.
Your self averted,
A priest’s son dies,
Promises are made,
Visits considered,
But nothing occures.
Touched by your play,
A creature is hurt,
Un-gathered by arms, killed,
Not nutured to death,
But denied its extension of expression.
Consumed by your status,
A friend is felled, unwitnessed,
Subjected to blow after blow,
The silent assault
Mimics the clamour
Of a synthesized Voice.

And were I to reflect on this,
Were I to really trouble myself by what I’ve seen,
My thoughts would be forced to raise the question:
Who are these people?
People, whose behaviour has been less wholesome
Than that of my darkest enemies.

Though we began our journey together.
Though we staked out
A claim within Holy Walls.
I’ve come to accept
That we do not travel the same Road
Or follow the same Source
And this has saddened me, greatly.
One can’t help but wonder,
What will it take for ‘You’ to return
To the ‘Way’.
A death? A birth? A disability?
Or are you so charmed,
As to think, you will make it to the end of life
Without your cocoon being pierced
By an instrument of God.
I only pray, that you are spared the knowing-ness
That that instrument
Is often the scalpel, of Christ’s own hand

Dedication (For complacent Orthodox Christians)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2005

His silouette
Now etched in my mind,
Is seeded whole -
An archetype of peace.
And I am
Forever grateful
For his moment of grace,
Which was sprinkled
Through a window,
Upon a neighbour,
Whom
He never knew.

Dedication (For Stan Cutlack)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2004

Too bad the ‘cultured’
Only know you as ‘the drunk’,
And not the gentleman
That you truly are.

Dedication (For Joseph Plunkett)
Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 42sec / 331kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2003

Simple complexity
Begets
Low cost richness,
For males
Of
Any Age.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 40sec / 315kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2003

Until next time
Then,
When all variables align,
And you stretch tall,
My hidden,
And ancient Friend.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 54sec / 425kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2003

But I fear
Its more likely,
That the sandpits
Of the mind
Will burn the fury
Of their eyes,
Into their hands,
And cause them
To gouge out
The sight
Of the First.

And now,
As countless innocents
Incinerate,
Within the distinctness
Of the Mind.
Impotent leaders
Dance political jigs,
Poking out tongues
While taunting the harmful,
Who’d happily scrape
More sanctity, off the lives, of those who remain.

Dedication (In Memory Of The World Trade Center Tragedy)
Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 55sec / 433kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2001

May their place
In this DNA space,
Grow in regression.

Dedication (For My Ancestors)
Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 60sec / 472kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2001

For
Each and everyone,
Now knows,
We are the centre
Of at least one universe -
Namely, our own.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2001

Taken from the deepest
Blue of seas,
Souls were broken,
Fed upon soil-less food
And ground, face first into the desert of safety.
But the desert
Finally turned to muddied water.
And the muddied water
Finally distilled to sea and sediment.
And the sea and sediment
Once again allowed us
To touch the deepest blue of our past.

So across the water
Curvature is again
Eyed by Byzantine Mariners,
Whose lookout,
Is now built upon the steps
Of Wynnum Natives.

The voice
Though silenced for millennia,
Is again rising
To glorify
Far more
Than a mythological phoenix.

And this time
It will praise
His Being proper.
“So be it!”
Shout the visible and invisible worlds,
May we not rest till it is done.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2001

So long lived
Amongst the elements,
My being
Was lip serviced
By fibro,
Fronting as home.

And now? I clutch at good fortune
Wondering, what next.
Were I
To entertain confidence,
The road ahead would be paved
By dreams and grace filled places.

Hence, as lids get laden
Goodness surrounds me,
Extended by the solidarity of brick against brick.
Something, unknown to me
Since childhood,
But comforting none the less.

Dedication (For Our Home)
Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 55sec / 433kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 2001

Dedication (For Helen)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1998

We are not what we seem.
We are the more,
The un-quashed voices
Of hearts
Pounding their way towards the beginning place,
Where honesty applauds
More loudly
Than Baroque patrons of old.

We are ourselves,
Beyond that of strangers
Whose glances are washed away
By the turning of a head.
And in part, we are the moment
Raised high
Like a banner
Announcing our stake in this – life’s lottery to be…

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1997

All I have known is cotton, steel and plastic.
Of a brother’s failure,
Of a sister’s pain,
Of the self, forever before me.
Temptation by the now is everywhere,
But I cannot forget what I have seen.
Your shallowness is my nausea,
And I will be judged for judging,
But so be it.
For my heart tells me you are wrong
And this I cannot ignore.
Other things I might,

But this, I cannot.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 68sec / 534kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1994

Being driven and drawn forward
By the knowing
That we are struggling
For that which is timeless;
While those against us
Are fixating on that which has passed.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 72sec / 565kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1993

The invitation has always
Been there – the choice to rise beyond the clouds of fatalism
To turn, dive and soar through the structural imposition,
Like the pure hearted crow
Who never allows its own beauty
To be misaligned by the visual perception of blackness.

And like the crow,
We are all descendants
Of the forcibly transplanted.
Continuum of the Body Community
Broken – we have choice to maintain the isolation
Or reconnect – once again to form Church.

I have come close to stepping away forever
And this has scared me.
To follow the face of the spiritually punch drunk
Or the face of the clear hearted… Which will it be?
I must remember my whys, and be still
Until my hows, guide my heart – placing it in God’s Palm.

I long for the Strength
To ensure I pursue this;
Otherwise the evolution of my soul is jeopardised
And this, I know… can easily come to be.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 95sec / 745kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1993

It is there that the breeze is never harrowing,
That the sun’s warmth reaches the marrow
And powers the soul,
In ways known only in times of fables and legends.
Where the nobility fought gallantly without bloodshed.
Where honour knew respect and caring as the bottom line,
And dragons, were demons that we could detect
Not charaded away within the forms of humanity.

Through this corner of my Passion
I see what each really is
And adjust accordingly.
From here I am fed the Fire and the Water,
The Strength that does not end

And filling my connecting force,
My window of clarity and interaction
With the world,
Goes on
Always opening out to my soul and Beyond.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 77sec / 605kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1993

Its residence then, is not forever.
Each chip it makes, each take,
Though sometimes mortally wounding
May cease its cause through Truth.

We in turn, create the oracle of humanity;
The living dream outside of myth and speculation.
And when the fruit trees bloom
In multitudes across the planet,

We know that the struggle was not in vain;
And that all peoples can smile at their sun
And not risk persecution,
By those who smile at the sand.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 54sec / 425kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1992

We’re going backwards folks,
Just ever, such a little bit…

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 77sec / 605kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1992

All this
When one need only
Sun and Sky,
Earth and Wind,
Water
As a soothing friend.
All this,
And more in One:

Sadness, that can’t be felt;
Anger, that can’t be seen;
Happiness, that never frees;
Peace, that can not be…

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 55sec / 433kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1992

There was a young man.
Alone with no leaves,
But ever so many books — and one,
An isolated spine, which sat quite still
And read so blank in its non-being.
Within this he had a dream
And in it, Saint Nik – a guy with an affectionate fuzzy beard,
Handed him pen and ink
And rumbled, “Write what you will, when you will, as you will.”

There was a person,
Standing at ease below the grandeur of a Moreton Bay Fig,
Holding all Traditions with equal regard and respect;
Remembering the filling up of paper with mind,
While a little girl tugged at a trouser leg
And held out a thought plate
Saying, “I’m done.”
For her, the new young, there was no need to be told
Explore as you will.

For it had come to be – that one was born of freedom
Where chapters could always be written,
And bottling into kegs of fear was only a memory
In a passing youth’s imagination…

Dedication (For Mal McCouat)
Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 103sec / 808kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1992

Parents turn away,
Professing deafness
At
Such thoughts…

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 61sec / 480kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1991

Triggered by laughter and lemonade trophies,
The recline in observation is complete;
Diving in, one savours the flavour
Spontaneously scribed between souls.
Heads raised – we glimpse
Good wishes recorded in the chronicles of heaven.

Where scores are kept,
To moor our so’s…

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 49sec / 386kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1990

For there is a Meadow
And Daisy behind your facade;

To good to remain unknown,
And I will know it before my end.

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 23sec / 183kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1990

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 49sec / 386kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1990

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1990

And thus, the stone filled statue stands.
Trapped in the place where love will never be!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1990

It seems, my grip is slipping.
I must fall and become… adult!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1990

For below the sheath, it lives but still.
Awaiting times,
Which cannot kill.

So, will it rise to cleanse our souls?
Caress our worries?
Save our goals?

Futile to think, thoughts like these -
As resurrection lies,
Through hands and dreams.

Not in waiting or wanting spells,
Which facade the love
Yet ring the bells.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989
(Poem From 1989 – exact date of writing unknown)

Unfortunately…
      It never quite works out that way.
      The Creator, it would seem, has an admirable sense of humour;
      Tossing someone else’s left overs into the solution stew,
      Just when its about to be served.
Yet…
      Even this complication does not phase her.
      She rises up,
      Takes it with a grain of sodium chloride replacement,
      And knuckles down to a few more hours of bartering.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989

Such warmth… aahhh… drawn from the stills of Antarctic.
Such sweetness… oohhh… modeled on the taste of fermenting gall.
What could ‘top off’ such a script,
Rooted in a tangle of pain and unsatisfied expectations?
One thing I tell you… one thing… he said.
A silence, a withdrawal, an isolation ‘par excellence’.

And so it was…

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989
(Poem From 1989 – exact date of writing unknown)

Its true – we all grow up,
Expectations are laid down in concrete – a distraction for sure.
“Adult, ah ha… mature, maybe… therefore wise?”
The problem is we all assume wisdom comes with age.
No wonder society stumbles around in a coma most of the time.
Why don’t we allow people to learn from their mistakes,
Accrue wisdom before children,
And then assume they can make useful decisions.

If we don’t, I’m sure we’ll continue to await
With “baited breaths”
For guidance to spring forth from the foetuses of the world.
So sift through what you’ve heard – but carefully.
Be still, and grab the gems as they’re laid out by artisans.
And above all – avoid spending an eternity wondering
Why that initial “wisdom” offered from the crib
Was so useless…

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989
(Exact date of writing unknown.)

Twist away, and tear your heart…

Strike at the evil and blind the eye;
It must not see the hell we preserve;
It must not see the source of strength
Which drives the revenge of the wounded soul,
And shatters life, which had shattered zest.

“We are Christians!” we shout to the cause.
“We are holders of truth and of glorious light!”
But darkness dwells behind greying suits,
Bitterness reigns within the sight,
And daggers are drawn to advance the time.

What way to live a life so short!
At best seek out the tactics still;
At worst cut down the kicker’s hand,
And quell the pain through raging force,
Struck at last in conquered air…

Irony wins above both fields;
As neither sees their blood stained hands,
Which answer silent to the call,
And cast out codes and words of warmth,
And raise a crown that neither claims!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989
(Exact date of writing unknown.)

I speak of the moon on the steps to the stars,
Where teddy bears rest in their travels of sleep;
And gasp at the horrors of peopled new hats,
Which darken the rooms of classical souls.

I speak of the sun that spins through our hearts,
And tares at the scars lodged deep by the air;
Which presses and leaves in bursts of fine wind,
Then runs and hides when all else is done.

I speak of the warmth that’s lost to the cold,
And the cold that leads to competent pain;
Yet the march to its death is not of ‘our’ heart,
And should always but end like the knife in the grave!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989
(Exact date of writing unknown.)

Once left behind in air of want,
They shadow walk till life’s own end,
And then still sit as canines do,
Awaiting steps on woven ground.

In spite of this they share our dreams,
And hope again to raise their voice,
To speak as one like children do,
In praise of us and living well.

But most adults can’t see them now,
Their freshness and, brightness calmed,
These friends are lost in time and space,
And drawn far out of contacts slack!

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1989
(Exact date of writing unknown.)

She sat and smiled,
Her beauty real,
Her face did glow and light its words.
A sadness though,
Smeared her eyes,
And haunted them as laughter left.

She breathed a sigh,
Not quite heard.
She raised a hand to free her mate;
I rose to help -
Got waved away.
She stood alone, before the storm.

How often, had she braced her frame;
Had bared the brunt,
Of the wind?
Which knew no easing
Back just some,
As gusts raised up their linen fists.

Many times, it is said;
As she paced to ease the strain.
But now and then I caught a glimpse
Of palms raised up to her chin;
Resting thoughts and inner sense;
Shared out loud for a time.

I didn’t know, that she had passed,
Had slid right down clay filled walls;
Her battle grounds,
Now memory laid;
Her heart held weapons, sheathed by death;
Are still alive, through holy words.

Inspiration was her sign,
Raised upon her everyday;
She touched each soul,
Through brilliance born;
And clenched each hand to hold back fear,
Compressed by time, and muddied planks.

No strings reached out, from her gifts;
She never asked for favored wants;
She was as was in her heart;
For in it lived the warmth of love;
Suspended now for all time,
And drawn from treasures world’s apart.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(12th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

How do we know if it will be true?
When world’s accept passions in its fine place;
And know not of peace freely bestowed;
On physical beings and their spiritual space.

Will flaws such as these always but rise?
And taint the fair souls of flowing clear hope;
As the serpent had done in times of once old;
Where loss was first touched, in our oneness to cope.

It need not be as many believe;
For the rainbow still lives in the mists of the fall;
And dreams do come true in the depths of our eyes;
As do wishes exist when our smiling does call.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(11th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

To silence a longing in the rarest of times,
Would miss our strength and magical love,
Raised up in the corridors of the endeared,
Where speech still enchants electrified air;
And touches the mind of a now known friend.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(10th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

To look into a golden sunset’s eyes,
And find there beauty, born
Of the world’s own mind.

To look through a creek’s sweet smiling face,
And be mystified, by a reality
Of unfathomable depth.

To look at the words of an autumn breeze,
And be touched, by a leaf
In the blessing of time.

Forever should such be in bloom,
Not taunted by the mark of age.
And live in growth through wondrous zest,
Of warmth, of friendship beyond the ebb
That tides the everlasting wave.

Dedication (For C Finnigan)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(9th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

Reach up to heaven
And touch the sky,
Be yourself
And not a lie.

For it is a time of freedom,
A time of reign,
A time to live,
Not quite the same.

A time to sing,
A time to praise,
A time to listen,
And be amazed.

For to pass it by,
Would be a crime.
To waste a thought,
In hidden mime.

Thus heeding words,
Of royal pure light,
She mastered self,
A soul’s delight.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(8th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

“Why is it?” said the froggy as the sun rose above,
“That futile are my searches for a friend here today?”
Unable to grasp such a question of love,
He dangled his feet, sighed, splashed his worries away.

Soft footsteps were heard on the moss far behind.
Turning his head, a tear fell below.
“Why do you cry?” said a voice, sounding so kind.
There stood a princess whose radiance did glow.

“I am lost,” said the froggy, with an innocence of pain,
“I do not know who I am, or why I am here.”
“I am filled with a longing, I cannot explain.”
“Maybe for a friend, for a spouse, for someone quite dear.”

“Could that friend be me?” flowed her words bathed in light.
“I’ve known a frog or two, in my time, in my play.”
“Yes, yes!” said the froggy, captured by the sight,
Of a princess who ignored what others might say.

Thus many a day, was born to abscond,
And was filled with their games, and stories of dream.
By a princess of silk, and a green frog by a pond,
And a happiness that could close such a book it would seem.

But all is not heard and the epic not told,
Until is revealed the fact of the kiss.
Which should have transformed as in stories of old,
Our froggy on rock into handsome young prince.

So, forward she bent, lips touching his chin,
But nothing did change and she turned right away.
“I’ll be back in the morn,” she sighed with a grin,
Though never returning, to once again play.

“Why me?” cried the chivalrous, gallant little frog,
As he tossed up the thought, his bare elbow on knee.
But unanswered lay words until sank his own log,
And strange noises were heard, behind hide-me-now tree.

From his world did he spring, to a branch in the clouds,
Where shattered were views by scenes far below.
Thus shedding his youth, like a lifting of shrouds,
His heart lost beat, lost warmth, lost innermost glow.

And so slumped the froggy, near his water filled home,
Not seeing the Folklore whose petals now turned
To touch the stooped shoulder and mortified gnome,
And trigger an explosion of colour, of sound, of light yet unlearned.

As the cacophony cleared, from the air all around,
A crowned couple stood by castle and glistening stream,
While a cloaked rabbit, sat groping amongst forested ground,
Near a vulture, still grappling with her golden gown’s seam.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(7th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

Which way to turn while on the path,
Lay the quest before his eyes;
But nothing showed the lighted way,
Bar shadows draped in deathly downs.

He slowed his ride to a trot,
And stood before the parting plane;
His heart did pound and die at once,
As clouds drew forth beyond the fields.

The pain and choice were but one,
Unknown to this confidante;
Who camped before the branching dust,
And waited, hoped, he would yet know.

Alas he missed even this,
And died in wait for that change;
Which could not come unless he took,
Either path – for each was right on its day.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(6th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

In spite of this cross – he crawls into gear.
Momentum builds up – advancing the clock.
But all that I have – to help him along.
Is hope that in time – the path will be paved.
And placement of feet – is not upon rocks.
As the weight of our life – is driven ahead,
By more than just him – depending on me.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(5th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

But what thoughts are these?
What form of reality is this?
Life was not created
For such things to occur,
Yet this, was what life had become.
Without warning,
The old child,
In the absence of thought,
Jumped.
My workmate could not be consoled – no matter how I tried.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(4th poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

Atmosphere of a high school camp,
       Problems,
       Commitments,
       Work,
       Studies,
All put aside.

Enjoying life,
Enjoying activities,
Savouring every moment, as it comes along.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(3rd poem written in 1988 – exact date of writing unknown)

How does one describe the pain?
That’s unable to escape.
Caused by the realisation,
That the plane
       Can not,
       Will not,
       Will never,
       Come to life.
Will never ratter, and tatter;
Like the Willy Wag Tail,
Which leaps from gum tree to tin roof.
Will never leave the ground;
       To touch the sky,
       To salute the sunset;
       To tease the heavy face of earth,
       To leave a tear of laughter in a rain cloud’s eye.

How does one avoid
Such an experience as this?
       Does one turn their back,
       And wear a mask of cynicism to their grave?
       Does one laugh in a frivolous way;
       Ignore the shame, the embarrassment,
       And return again
       To fly alone;
       That which should be flown by two?
Or,
       Does one accept the truth?
       Test the present, not the crystal ball;
       Continue to believe in craft with wings;
       And hope,
       That someday one involving the person and another,
       Will soar into the blueness of the sky;
       Never again to return
       To the greyness of our world…

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(2nd poem written in 1988)

Instead we guess,
We wonder if;
The other feels the strength,
The gift;
That powers life
Eternal now,
And guides the future,
Within the cloud.

The pain, the sorrow
If we’re wrong,
But such is the risk,
To grow so strong;
That the test is time,
And time the guest;
Which introduces the one
For whom, we’re best.

If this charade
Could end today;
Revealing our soul,
In wide display;
Would our ultimate life,
As friends, as one,
Be robbed of Romance
And not begun?

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1988
(1st poem written in 1988)

In time, the small condensation turns golden,
And compliments the beauty
Of scattered sunbeams along the horizon,
Such that, the radiance of life is augmented beyond imagination…

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1987
(5th poem written in 1987 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1987
(4th Poem written in 1987)

It is the pain, the gut wrenching feeling.
It is the laughter that needs no recognition.

It can be the most peaceful experience -
Like the breeze gently rocking the gum tree’s leaves.

Or – it can be ‘the noise’ which serves no true purpose,
But to tempt one’s hormones to tighten their grip.

It is the ‘once upon a time – lived happily ever after…’ story.
An illusion? Not totally – its reality lies in the extent we believe in it.

So where does it lead? Where does it end? No one knows.
The only certainty is that its resting place – is where one directs it to go.

And this, is not due to fate,
As some would have us believe.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1987
(3rd poem written in 1987)

But his transient presence,
Served a purpose
Touching many souls
And sowing the seeds of self worth.

Much pain was suffered,
At no one’s expense.
Much was lost
Without them knowing.

No reward was ever given,
Or recognition bestowed.
No thanks, no handshakes
Or smiles of reflection.

He could have complained,
But never did.
He passed through life’s contracted seasons,
Ending in the sunset of a perfect summer.

Too simple a story for us today,
But simplicity, is still the strength of the world.
It powers life… powers purpose…
Powers the duality which is everlasting in the face of adversity.

Dedication (For A.B.Robertson at K.S.H.S.)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1987
(2nd poem written in 1986 – exact date of writing unknown)

A lot has changed since 1987. I’ve been using programs like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop to carry out font work like this, for over 12 years now.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1987

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1987
(1st poem written in 1987)

It is something good and holy,
Between a man and woman -
Who are deeply committed and have married – if at all possible.
For marriage and commitment are the holy sacraments
Under which God bestowed this aspect of life upon humanity.

It is something special and sacred,
Between a man and a woman -
Who are deeply fond of children and mankind as a whole,
Having prepared themselves to look after, nurture and guide
Any new life that may come about through their union.

It is therefore, an integral part of our universe which He created.
And as He created it,
It is, and will always be -
Pure, holy, sacred and special.
Not just in the past, but always……

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1986
(4th poem written in 1986)

The size of each of the graphic components (in the drawing) corresponded with how important each of these aspects of life was to me at the time. i.e. religion and challenging everything (asking questions) was fundamental to who I was as a person.

Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1986

It is something that exists through its own natural freedom,
And zest for life…

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1986
(3rd poem written in 1986 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1986
(2nd poem written in 1986 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1986
(1st poem written in 1986 – exact date of writing unknown)

It has no unique physical form
But has the ability to touch the heart.
It can tare, it can save.
It can complete, it can begin.
But in whatever form it is displayed – its essence is everlasting.

At last I think I understand – that for somethings,
Words are too futile to express what we feel.
No language speaks the way of our heart;
For our heart holds neither an essay, nor a poem;
It only holds a feeling.

And that feeling,
Is what we all seek to rediscover.
Whether through our calling in life,
Through our chosen partner,
Our achievements, or some other.

And so I’ve written you this universal thought;
For it is you who has reached out
And touched my soul,
Filled my being,
And completed my heart -

Through your love
Your truth and gentleness,
Your patience and kindness.

This did not occur
By way of a worldly gimmick -
But through a great quality, that few still possess;
And that is of just being yourself -
No more, or less.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1985
(2nd poem written in 1985 – exact date of writing unknown)

Could it be me?
Is it something I possess, which puts them off?
Maybe my creed, my status, my height?
For even though I try to communicate,
They push me away with a snub that’s ever so slight.

This place is so large;
But still, I try to be polite.
I look them in the eye -
Maybe I’ll catch a sparkle or even a glimmer,
Leading to a smile and ultimately a “Hi’.

But their glances are directed ground-wards,
Quite probably, the soil’s more interesting than me.
It seems so impersonal, so individualistic, so segregated – a way to live.
One human being is independent of the other,
And society says – “that’s life”; but that’s not how life should be read!

We are but one – as we are but one with the plants;
As we are but one with the animals;
As we are but one with each other.
Chief Seattle once said:
“If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.”

How lonely man’s spirit must be.
He has driven away the beasts from his doorstep,
And though he lives with his fellow man,
He refuses to let all but a few into his heart.
Instead, deciding to run from them as if to flee?

You may call for an instant solution,
A logical way to solve this cataclysmic problem.
But there is no need for such complexity.
The answer is very simple – but many do not understand
That all we have to do, is continually kindle our hearts,

So that they remain
Everlastingly warm, touching all existence,
And choosing to return
To our Source’s reality,
Which freely pursues connections without fear or reservation.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1985
(1st poem written in 1985 – exact date of writing unknown)

It was thought,
That eternity existed before time,
And so it may have,
But as there is no universal time,
Eternity still exists.

Men claim that to live, means to fight.
But it is a defeat they bring upon themselves.
Complete ‘Human Beings’ – know, that to harmonise,
To extend peace, love and clarity -
Is what leads to real understanding.
It is not through the mind or logic,
Nor through deduction or analysis.

It is through -
A completeness of the self, with the Infinite;
Faith, measurable and immeasurable;
The Heart, or maybe you call it Ki or Spirit;
And Purity that is not pre-defined, but only felt.

It is……
Quite simply,
Found only within oneself – a place where too few of us look.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1984
(4th poem written in 1984 – exact date of writing unknown)

You’re entity faded
As you worked long hours,
You became me and I you,
As we fought for the common goal
That eluded both ‘Staedtler’ and ‘Columbia’ too.

Our compassion cannot be measured by words,
Such closeness and friendship,
Led to our intertwining of thoughts,
Our respect, our similarities,
But most of all, our love for that ‘Tipex’ we bought.

But I’m afraid,
That even though so close my drained out friend,
I cannot cherish your incapacitance much longer,
And I’m forced, to surrender you to that big black pencil case in the sky.
So please don’t think of it as a bin, but more like something over there ‘Yonder’.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1984
(3rd poem written in 1984 – exact date of writing unknown)

It could stop, but doesn’t;
Destroy, but never will;
It has no destiny or ancestry;
And thus, never needs to show or tell.

Few really understand its meaning,
And attempt to answer why.
But those who do are dreaming,
And never tell because they’re shy.

Thus, the leaves move to and fro together;
While the breeze, quiet and gentle does calm;
The ant carrying the leg and feather,
Recites a silent, environmental psalm.

I watch the moss begin to thicken,
As the gum trees start their final bloom;
But when the time comes to be leaving,
I realise, I’m still within my tiny room.

And so I hear a noisy knocking.
And so I hear footsteps deep.
Too bad it can’t last forever,
And only when you’re alone, or they’re asleep.

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1984
(2nd poem written in 1984 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1984
(1st poem written in 1984 – exact date of writing unknown)

We watch from behind a window closed;
Is it barred or can we fly through?
The problems issue past our eyes.
No need to touch, no need to worry;
Though inside we always find we do.

We’re looked upon as deaf and dumb,
Never extending our simple minds;
But we share a secret;
Is it not?
One in which we can survive and they cannot.

We have suffered, our generations gone.
We have have watched, while they rest in sleep.
We have fought for rights they see as “rot”,
And we have shielded from their blows;
At their feet.

And what, may I ask have we both achieved?
Very little to the naked eye.
A standing point which they believe can be hit,
And hit.
Until they see us eventually die.

But little do they know my small, young friend,
That both of us will survive in mind and in soul;
With our ways and thoughts lodged hard in pride.
Never quivering at their ways……
And why will we never quiver?
You ask me now.
Well, because they cannot touch us.
Not even when……
Yes; Not even when, our life begins to end.

Dedication (For Yanko Riziloudzins)
Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(11th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(10th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Who is really lacking here?
A mind void of logic?
A mind of useless fantasy?
A mind of endless excuses?
Or is it the dehydrated image of a human,
Who swears he’d be able to achieve all his dreams if only he had food.
Such is the case;
Poverty occurs in the mind long before it is found externally.
Thus, is it really a “lack of possessions”, as they say?
I’ve watched two of equal wealth -
One with a twig, built a garden;
The other, made a fire that lasted forty seconds.
Yes they are both human, and yes, mistakes are made,
But isn’t it about time they were made just once
And not nine-hundred and one times?

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(9th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(8th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(7th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(6th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(5th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(4th poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (To Be Added)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(3rd poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 32sec / 253kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(2nd poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)

Audio Version (Podcast – MP3 / 46sec / 362kb)
Copyright © Vasilios Theodorakis 1983
(1st poem written in 1983 – exact date of writing unknown)